Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this bill. Supporters of this bill have called it reform. This is not reform. It is a massive expansion of the government's ability to pry into the private lives of innocent people. If you need proof, just look at the bill's section 702 which is supposed to authorize spying on foreign adversaries, but it has emboldened some in law enforcement to collect and read private communications of American citizens without a warrant. Instead of curbing these practices, S. 139 would codify and expand some of the most abusive of surveillance practices used in recent years, including ``abouts'' collection and backdoor searches. There is no more important responsibility that we have than keeping the American people safe, but we have to do it in a way that is consistent with our values and our Constitution. This bill undermines our values of privacy and freedom from unreasonable searches and seizures. I urge my colleagues to oppose S. 139 and to support the Amash- Lofgren amendment, which allows intelligence agencies to do their jobs without undermining our values as Americans. We can do both things, Mr. Speaker: keep the American people safe and honor and respect our Constitution, which protects the privacy of all American citizens. Mr. Speaker, I urge defeat of this bill and support of the amendment.”