USA FREEDOM Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, I want to thank the Senator from Utah, my good friend, for his leadership on the USA FREEDOM Act. I recently returned from an official trip to the Middle East with leader McConnell and several of my fellow first-term Senators. We met with leaders in Israel, Jordan, Iraq, Kuwait, and Afghanistan to discuss the political and security issues facing Middle Eastern nations.

We also met with a number of American servicemembers who are bravely securing our country in these crisis-stricken regions and working every day to keep our Nation safe from the extreme forces that wish to destroy us. These meetings painted a very clear picture; that terror imposed by extreme forces such as ISIS and the threats facing our allies in the Middle East are real and they are growing every single day.

But the growing presence of ISIS in the Middle East is not just affecting the long-term security of nations such as Iraq and Syria, it is no longer a risk isolated geographically to the Middle East.

These extreme Islamic forces are working every day to harm the American people within our borders and on our soil. It is critical our law enforcement officials and our intelligence agencies have the tools they need to find terrorists in the United States and abroad, identify potential terror attacks, and eradicate these risks. ISIS is not just working to inflict physical damage upon our country and our people, this extreme group and other like-minded terrorists are intent on destroying our very way of life, our Nation's foundation of freedom and justice for all.

But as we strengthen our intelligence capabilities, we must, with equal vigor and determination, protect our Constitution, our civil liberties, the very foundation of this country. If the forces of evil successfully propel leaders in Washington to erode our core constitutional values, we will grant these terrorists a satisfying victory. We must never allow this. We must uphold the Constitution. We must work to protect the balance between protecting our Nation's security while also maintaining our civil liberties and our constitutional rights.

That is why I, similar to so many Montanans, am deeply concerned about the NSA's bulk metadata collection program and its impact on our constitutional rights. This program allows the NSA to have uninhibited access to America's phone records. I firmly believe this is a violation of America's constitutional rights and it must come to an end. Montanans have also long been concerned that the NSA has overreached its legal authority when implementing its bulk data collection program.

The recent ruling from the New York-based Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals confirmed it. The court ruled unanimously that section 215 of the PATRIOT Act does not authorize the NSA's bulk collection of Americans' phone metadata, but this is not the first time the legality of NSA's bulk data practices have been questioned.

A 2015 report from the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which is a nonpartisan, independent privacy board, found that section 215 does not provide authority for the NSA's collection program. The report raised serious concerns that the NSA's program violated the rights guaranteed under the First and Fourth Amendments. The report states:

Under the section 215 bulk records program, the NSA acquires a massive number of calling records from telephone companies every day, potentially including the records of every call made across the Nation. Yet Section 215 does not authorize the NSA to acquire anything at all.

The report concludes:

The program lacks a viable legal foundation under section 215. It implicates Constitutional concerns of the first and fourth amendments, raises serious threats to privacy and civil liberties as a policy matter, and has shown only limited value. For these reasons the government should end the program.

I strongly agree. In addition, the independent Commission found that the bulk collection program contributed only minimal value in combatting terrorism beyond what the government already achieves through other alternative means. So claims that this program provides unique value to our security were not validated, and, in fact, were refused by the Commission.

As Montana's Senator, I took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. It is a responsibility and a promise I take very seriously. That is why I have joined Senators Lee, Leahy, and others to introduce the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015. This bipartisan legislation will end the NSA's bulk data collection program, while also implementing greater oversight, transparency, and accountability in the government's surveillance activities.

The USA FREEDOM Act strikes the right balance between protecting our security and protecting our privacy. It still allows necessary access to information specific to an investigation, with an appropriate court order, and provides the flexibility to be able to move quickly in response to emergencies, but it stops the indiscriminate government collection of data on innocent Americans once and for all.

I have long fought to defend Montanans' civil liberties, protecting privacy and constitutional rights from Big Government overreach. After spending 12 years in the technology sector, I know firsthand the power that data holds and the threats to American civil liberties that come with mass collection.

As Montana's loan representative in the U.S. House, I cosponsored the original USA FREEDOM ACT that would have ended the NSA's abuses and overreach. I also supported efforts led by Congressman Justin Amash to amend the 2014 Defense appropriations bill and end the NSA's blanket collection of Americans' telephone records.

We made significant ground last year in raising awareness of this overreach, but the fight to protect America's civil liberties and constitutional freedoms is far from over. That is why I am proud to stand today as a cosponsor of the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015 and a strong advocate and defender of America's right to privacy. As risks facing our homeland and our interests overseas remain ever present, it is critical that our law enforcement has the tools they need to protect our national security from extremists who would destroy our Nation and our very way of life.

The USA FREEDOM Act provides these tools, but we must also remain vigilant to ensure that American civil liberties aren't needlessly abandoned in the process. We need to protect and defend the homeland. We need to protect and defend the Constitution.

I stand today with the full confidence that the USA FREEDOM Act achieves both, and I urge the Senate to pass it.

I yield back.

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