On Friday, House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Jerry Nadler (D-NY), Chairman of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance Andy Biggs (R-AZ), Congresswoman Pramila Jayapal (D-WA), Congressman Warren Davidson (R-OH), Congressman Matt Gaetz (R-FL), and Congressman Ben Cline (R-VA) released the following joint statement requesting House Leadership allow Members to vote on key reforms to protect Americans privacy:
“Americans’ Fourth Amendment privacy rights are at stake. Repeatedly punting legislation that better protects these rights and ends warrantless government surveillance is unproductive.
“The House Judiciary Committee has primary jurisdiction over the reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and passed H.R. 6570, the Protect Liberty and End Warrantless Surveillance Act on a strong bipartisan basis last fall. This bill ensures that the government has the tools necessary to keep Americans safe while including important privacy protections like requiring the government to obtain a warrant before conducting a search on Americans and prohibiting the government from circumventing the Fourth Amendment by purchasing data from third-party data brokers that would otherwise require a warrant.
“We would prefer the House consider H.R. 6570 on the floor, with a robust amendment process. However, we have demonstrated a willingness to consider other legislation to reauthorize Section 702, provided that Members have an opportunity to vote on whether the government should end warrantless surveillance on Americans and stop circumventing the Fourth Amendment by purchasing sensitive information on Americans from third parties.
“House Republicans and Democrats have patiently waited for a floor vote on this legislation. Every day that passes without a vote means that thousands of warrantless and invasive searches will continue on innocent Americans.
“Our only request to Speaker Johnson is to let us vote on these two reforms to protect the privacy rights of Americans.”
