4th District Newsletter - October 31, 2013

Statement

Dear Friend,

Below is information on two bills I have cosponsored to address Obamacare's disastrous roll out and the National Security Agency's continuous violations of our civil liberties.

Introducing the
"IF YOU LIKE YOUR HEALTH CARE PLAN YOU CAN KEEP IT Act of 2013":

We have long maintained that Obamacare was unworkable, and the first few weeks following the program's rollout are proving that we were correct. Americans are now being forced to buy health insurance they can't afford from a website that doesn't work, while the President gives exemptions to big business and congressmen.

Now, contrary to the President's repeated promises that people can keep their individual insurance if they want, millions of Americans are slated to lose their healthcare -- and the Obama administration knew this for more than three years.

I have repeatedly fought against the implementation of Obamacare and will continue to do so. I joined Congressman Ron DeSantis (R-FL) to introduce the 'If You Like Your Health Care Plan You Can Keep It Act of 2013' to make good on the President's promise to allow Americans to keep their current insurance plans. View the press release of the legislation here. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) is leading the measure in the Senate.

The National Security Agency:

In response to the NSA's repeated violations of our civil liberties, I cosponsored an amendment to July's Defense Appropriations bill to end the NSA's bulk surveillance. Though the measure failed 205-217, I have continued to fight: I'm an original cosponsor of the USA FREEDOM Act.

The USA FREEDOM Act would end bulk data collection under the Patriot Act, which allows seizure of personal communication records without probable cause.

The bill also includes several reforms to reinforce our civil liberties and improve transparency. The USA FREEDOM Act would create a constitutional advocate to promote privacy interests within the FISA court's closed proceedings.

To improve transparency, the USA FREEDOM Act ensures more robust reporting to members of Congress and requires the Attorney General to publicly disclose FISC decisions involving significant interpretation of law.

Even Congressman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) - the ORIGINAL author of the PATRIOT Act -- now agrees that implementation of the PATRIOT Act went too far. In fact, Rep. Sensenbrenner introduced the USA FREEDOM Act, and stated in a recent OpEd, "the dragnet collection of millions of Americans' phone records every day -- whether they have any connection at all to terrorism -- goes far beyond what Congress envisioned or intended to authorize." I agree… That is why I campaigned against the PATRIOT Act, cosponsored Rep. Justin Amash's (R-MI) LIBERT-E Act, and will continue to fight for your civil liberties. Read more about the USA FREEDOM Act here.

In Liberty,

Thomas Massie

Source