Providing for Consideration of H.R. Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act; Providing for Consideration of H.R. Extending Limits of U.S. Customs Waters Act; Providing for Consideration of H. Res. Denouncing the Biden Administration's Immigration Policies; and Providing for Consideration of H. Res. Opposing Efforts to Place One-Sided Pressure on Israel with Respect to Gaza

Floor Speech

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Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, today, we are voting on a resolution that will bring forward reauthorization of a program that has been abused for decades, the FISA 702 surveillance program.

Before we vote on that program, though, this resolution that we are voting on now prescribes that we will bring forward an amendment to require warrants. If you want to spy on Americans, if you want to use this database as a back door to look at the private information of Americans, you would need a warrant if this amendment passes.

Now, there are some people who say, oh, getting a warrant is too hard. It will slow us down. You will put America in danger.

Listen, I have been in the SCIF, the classified area where they are supposed to tell us the problems with requiring a warrant, and they never have told us a single example of where getting a warrant would be a problem to national security.

In fact, we have a provision in the warrant amendment that says in exigent circumstances you can skip that step. You will hear today that everything is fine, that we don't need the warrant amendment, that we have 53 reforms in this package.

Here is the problem with those reforms: We rely on the same people who abused the system to enforce those reforms, and they still don't go to the constitutional level that is required in this country.

Who doesn't trust those 53 reforms? Congress--the authors of this bill--doesn't trust those 53 reforms. Do you know how I know? Because they put in two exemptions for themselves in this bill. That is right: If the FBI is going to use 702 FISA to spy on Congressmen, they have to tell Congress. They even have to get permission from the Congressmen they are spying on if they say it is for the Congressmen's own good. Why do we have a provision in there that exempts Congressmen but not all of America?

Americans deserve the protections that are enshrined in the Constitution. Nothing less should pass this House.

This is an enormous database. They will tell you that we are just looking at intelligence that was gathered on foreigners. The problem is, they are collecting this intelligence in the United States, using service providers in the United States, using internet connections in the United States. They collect a lot of stuff here.

Do you think the NSA employee who did a FISA search on a Tinder date was looking for information about Hamas? No.

There is all kinds of information in there, and that is why it is being abused and why we need the warrant provision. I urge folks to vote for this rule so that they can vote for the warrant provision amendment. If that amendment doesn't pass, they shouldn't vote to reauthorize FISA.

Ms. LEGER FERNANDEZ.

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