Usa Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2020

Floor Speech

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Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, Americans want their privacy protected. For far too long, the Patriot Act and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, commonly referred to as FISA, have been used to trample the civil liberties of American citizens. For Montanans, the right to privacy is so fundamental that it is enshrined in our own constitution. In fact, very few States have such protections, but the drafters of the Montana Constitution recognized that privacy was essential to exercising all of the other freedoms that we hold so dear.

The bill the U.S. House has sent us does have some good reforms, and it has some good provisions in it, including a provision from my bipartisan bill with my colleague from Oregon, Senator Wyden, called the Safeguarding Americans' Private Records Act, which would revoke the now terminated call detail record program, which secretly collected data on our cell phones and our land lines, as well as on our private conversations. Yet the House bill fails to enact real reforms to FISA that will actually protect the privacy of the American people. We saw what a handful of scornful government bureaucrats did to President Trump when they abused FISA to serve their political motives. Our own government spied on an American citizen--a political adviser to then-Candidate Trump--with no oversight.

What happened to President Trump can happen to anybody for any purpose, and that is a very serious problem. Republican or Democrat, we can't allow the abuse of our government intelligence services to be used for political attacks. It puts our democracy in danger, and it undermines the trust and the confidence that our citizens place in these same institutions that are meant to protect them.

The House bill fails to prohibit the warrantless searches of browsing data in internet search history, and it fails to include any meaningful oversight and accountability. We need to get government out of our private lives and, instead, prioritize freedom and privacy. We can and must protect our national security and protect our civil liberties by making targeted reforms that will keep everyday Americans' privacy secure and continue to allow the government to go after the bad guys. The House bill does not go far enough, and we cannot compromise on an issue that is so vital to the very foundations of our government.

Montanans sent me to Congress to get government off their backs, and I am working not only to get government off their backs but to get government out of their phones, out of their computers, and out of their private lives. At the end of the day, this is about protecting privacy, and today, this day, we have the opportunity to get these reforms right. I have been working on behalf of Montanans, with my Senate colleagues across the aisle, to ensure we take a very bipartisan approach to this issue

In speaking on the Wyden-Daines amendment we will be voting on shortly, my bipartisan amendment is simple. It protects all Americans' civil liberties by prohibiting the collection of browser data and internet search history under section 215 of the Patriot Act. Browser data is some of the most personal and revealing information that can be collected on private citizens. Your internet search history can reveal extremely intimate information, including personal health data, religious beliefs, political beliefs, where you might go on your next vacation, even what you bought for your mom this past Mother's Day. I don't think the government should have access to such private information without a warrant. Section 215 of the Patriot Act is supposed to investigate potential terrorists, not spy on our own Americans' browser data.

Let me be clear. My amendment doesn't stop the intelligence community from doing its job. I am grateful for our intelligence community, and it doesn't prevent it from doing its job or from accessing the data it needs to keep Americans safe. It simply requires our intelligence agencies to abide by the Constitution and work within our Nation's laws, which means requesting a probable cause warrant to get this type of information. That means they might have to go to a judge and prove they have a valid reason to believe that someone is involved in espionage or in a possible terrorism operation. Without my bipartisan amendment, the government will be able to access browser data through the secret 215 spy program with little to no oversight.

At the end of the day, this is about securing our most basic Fourth Amendment rights, to protect our citizens' most personal data. In fact, recently, the Supreme Court found in the Carpenter decision that the government needed a warrant to access cell site location data because of how personal and invasive that information is.

The current House bill before us does have a prohibition for the collection of cell site location data under section 215, and that is a good thing. My amendment simply extends this prohibition to include browser data and internet search history, which is even more sensitive and personal than location data.

I agree with many of my colleagues that we need to have the tools in place to help find and stop our Nation's enemies, those who seek to harm America. We all agree on that, but we also need to make sure we are protecting Americans from our own government's spying and intervening in our personal lives. My amendment balances these important civil liberties and our national security by allowing the government to track down terrorists while also stopping them from violating the rights of law-abiding citizens.

This is not a zero-sum game. We can have both. This amendment has strong bipartisan support. Senator Wyden and I have been working on this issue for months, and we are joined by a long list of bipartisan cosponsors, including Republican Senators Lee, Braun, and Cramer, as well as by Democratic Senators Leahy, Udall, Markey, and many more. The amendment is also supported by a diverse group of stakeholders across the political spectrum, from FreedomWorks and Americans for Prosperity on one end to the ACLU and Demand Progress on the other. Americans across the country overwhelmingly back this amendment.

This is a core constitutional issue that brought a Democrat from Oregon together with a Republican from Montana. Montanans and Oregonians may have different priorities, but we all believe strongly in the right to privacy, in protecting our civil liberties, and in preserving our American way of life. I urge my Senate colleagues to stand with Senator Wyden and me to protect the privacy of all Americans, and I urge them to vote in favor of this amendment.

Before I yield to Senator Wyden, I will also take a minute to speak in support of the Lee-Leahy amendment.

This bipartisan amendment strengthens and clarifies the role and the authority of the amici in the FISA court. Unfortunately, we continue to see serious abuses and misuse of the FISA process. Most notably, the Department of Justice's inspector general found major abuses in applications to surveil President Trump's campaign adviser Carter Page. This abuse is just the tip of the iceberg.

We need serious reforms that protect American citizens from government surveillance, and the Lee-Leahy amendment does just that. It gives Americans a fighting chance and brings some clarity and, importantly, some transparency to the FISA court. I encourage my colleagues to also join me in supporting this Lee-Leahy amendment.

I see that my distinguished colleague and friend, the Senator from Oregon, Ron Wyden, is on the floor.

I yield to Senator Wyden for his remarks.

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Mr. DAINES. Mr. President, this amendment is about protecting American privacy, about making sure that Government is not intruding on our most private data. It is about respecting the Constitution and the Fourth Amendment. The Wyden-Daines amendment simply prohibits the collection of browser and search history data under section 215. Browser data is extremely personal, sensitive, and should require a probable cause warrant to access. This data shouldn't be allowed to be collected behind closed doors with no traditional oversight.

We can protect national security and protect the civil liberties and the constitutional rights of Americans at the same time. It is plain and simple. If you want to see an American's search history, than you better go to a judge and get a warrant.

Vote on Amendment No. 1583

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