Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Chair, I strongly oppose Mr. LaLota's amendment. He makes a great point. We all want to stand with law enforcement. That is a unifying position for Republicans, and I think most Democrats want to support them, as well. Nothing in this bill prohibits them from doing their job. The Fourth Amendment is a restriction on government activity though, and they are already used to getting warrants for all kinds of things. The novelty is the way that they acquire data to avoid getting a warrant or subpoena. In fact, under the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and the Stored Communications Act, they are required to get a court order. This amendment doesn't make it clear that this isn't an effort to expand that to say, no, you don't really have to do that anymore. It is an expansion of surveillance without a warrant instead of the purpose of the bill, so it is hostile to the entire purpose of the bill. It guts the core of the protection that is meant to be restored here. Mr. Chair, for that reason, I oppose Mr. LaLota's amendment, and I strongly encourage our colleagues to do the same so that we can pass a very functional Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act and restore the infringed right to privacy that Americans need restored. Mr. LaLOTA. Mr. Chair, I yield myself the balance of my time. Mr. Chair, we cannot say that we support law enforcement officers and then take away the tools they need to do their job.…”