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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Ms. HAGEMAN. Mr. Speaker, the security state's abuse of their foreign intelligence authorities to unlawfully surveil American citizens and search their records has been exposed for all to see.

In 2021, the FBI conducted over 3 million FISA searches of Americans. In 2022, the FBI was still conducting hundreds of such warrantless queries per day.

In the 2020 and early 2021 time period, the FBI conducted over 278,000 searches of the 702 FISA database that violated the Justice Department's own rules and often lacked national security connections.

The FBI is querying Americans of all political and religious affiliations. The FBI is even using section 702 to target elected and appointed government officials.

The FBI's abuses are well-known--using the 702 database to search for information on those individuals that it perceives to be political enemies of liberal orthodoxy, seeking to infiltrate the Catholic church, spying on parents at school board meetings, and working with Big Tech to censor Americans it disagrees with.

This is Stasi level abuse, and it must be stopped.

So my question for this body is, if catching the government violating the Constitution and our civil liberties is not the time for significant reform, then when is?

The proposed changes to FISA are a good first step, but they don't go far enough. There are three additional amendments to assure accountability. One includes a warrant requirement to query the 702 database for Americans. There is no national security exception to the Fourth Amendment and we must ensure that these agencies adhere to the bill of rights.

This warrant amendment would not prevent the government from using all of the available national security tools. It simply requires the government to get a warrant.

Now there are some who would argue that requiring the intelligence agencies to obtain a warrant before spying on American citizens would be too burdensome and unreasonably delay their efforts to keep the homeland safe. My first response is to note that if these agencies sincerely cared about national security, they would be doing everything in their power to convince President Biden and Mayorkas to close the border, but that has not been their priority and their silence is deafening.

My second response is to note that this reauthorization is only for 2 years. We can pass the warrant amendment and reassess the situation in 2 short years, making the necessary tweaks at that time.

The second amendment offered by Mr. Cline would end, once and for all, ``abouts'' collection, and the third amendment by Mr. Roy would enhance reporting requirements and bring more transparency to the FISA court process.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support these three amendments. If these three amendments do not pass, section 702 should not be reauthorized. I also urge my colleagues to reject the three additional amendments that we will be taking up, amendments that are actually designed to expand FISA. It is simply unacceptable to reward an agency's abuse of power.

Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to vote for the rule and the three amendments.

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