Sean Reyes: “I rise in opposition to the White House/ Wilson bill. I want to detect and intercept terrorists before they reach the…”

“I rise in opposition to the White House/ Wilson bill. I want to detect and intercept terrorists before they reach the United States as much as anyone, but I don't want to give the President the ability to trample our Constitution in that process. I have devoted my entire career to defending our Constitution, first in the military, then in the Border Patrol, and now in Congress. I am not willing to give the President unnecessary unchecked authorities just because it makes good election-year politics. As a member of both the Intelligence Committee and the Armed Services Committee, I would like to address the failure of this bill to deal with a very specific problem: the President's assertions that the authorization for use of military force gave him the authority to conduct warrantless surveillance of innocent Americans. I offered an amendment in committee that would have inserted additional language into the White House-Wilson bill to make clear that Congress did not, did not, Mr. Speaker, in passing that authorization, empower the President to engage in warrantless surveillance. Like every amendment offered in the Intelligence Committee, it was voted down in a party line vote. Anything that doesn't square with the President's wish list was unacceptable to the sponsor of this bill. That is disappointing, and that is not bipartisanship.”