Ted Poe: “Members have been given access to a top secret memo by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence regarding…”

“Members have been given access to a top secret memo by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence regarding the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The memo is disturbing. Mr. Speaker, for years I have worked to rein in FISA's abuse of Americans' constitutional rights. The memo, along with supporting evidence from other government agencies, should immediately be declassified. Despite the shutdown, the process to release this document to the American public and the media has begun. There is also an overclassification of documents by government. They have nothing to do with national security. The American people and the media must see what our government is doing in secret without America's knowledge. The memo is proof that government cannot be trusted. In the words of Thomas Jefferson, ``Educate and inform the whole mass of people. . . . They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.'' Mr. Speaker, the memo shows this is not the America our forefathers envisioned. And that is just the way it is. ____________________”