WASHINGTON—Heritage Action, a conservative grassroots organization with two million activists nationwide, today issued a Key Vote and released the following statement from Executive Vice President Ryan Walker urging lawmakers to support an amendment prohibiting warrantless searches as a requirement for legislation reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA):
“The FBI’s repeated misuse of Section 702 to abuse Americans’ constitutional rights is a disgrace. If Congress reauthorizes Section 702 without strong reforms, lawmakers will have missed a massive opportunity to end some of the federal government's glaring abuse. Heritage Action cannot support reauthorization of Section 702 without changes and strongly encourages members to support the warrant amendment as a requirement for reauthorization.”
The amendment to H.R. 7888 - Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act bans warrantless searches of the communications of people legally in the United States in the FISA 702 database.
By issuing a Key Vote, lawmakers are notified that their position on this amendment will affect their score on the Heritage Action Scorecard, which shows voters and activists how conservative lawmakers are by comparing their policy positions to those of Heritage Action. The scores of lawmakers who do not vote for the amendment will be negatively impacted.
More information about the legislation and Heritage Action’s decision to issue a Key Vote can be found in the brief pasted below and available online here. This Key Vote notification was sent to members of Congress.
KEY VOTE: “Yes” on Warrant Requirement Amendment to H.R. 7888 - Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act
Heritage Action supports the warrant requirement amendment to H.R. 7888 - Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, prohibiting warrantless searches of U.S. person communications in the FISA 702 database. The amendment vote will be included as a key vote on our legislative scorecard.
The FBI’s record of politicized abuses and the executive branch’s continued misuse of federal intelligence authorities is chilling. Bureaucrats have repeatedly targeted the exercise of free speech and other constitutional rights of Americans. Congress can no longer ignore these clear and egregious violations of the American people’s trust and civil liberties and must enact forceful reforms. Congress should restructure and reform the FBI from top to bottom to ensure effective oversight and protect the constitutional rights of Americans.
Short of comprehensive FBI reform, strong reforms to FISA and the Section 702 program should be requirements for reauthorization. Among the most worrisome of the FBI’s abuses has been its misuse of the 702 collection to gather information on American citizens. The FBI has improperly dipped into the 702 database more than 278,000 times to gather information on Americans for purposes having nothing to do with national security. The amendment to prohibit warrantless queries of the Section 702 program, combined with the strong reforms contained in the base bill, would be an important step toward more clearly defining the scope of the FBI’s jurisdiction, refocusing its mission on traditional law enforcement, and putting it under effective control.
Importantly, the warrant requirement amendment addresses FBI abuses while maintaining the integrity of important national security tools. It is limited to obtaining a warrant for communications or information of U.S. persons (not foreign nationals who are inside the U.S.) and is not limited only to queries deemed to be done for “criminal law enforcement purposes.” These features ensure that the warrant requirement amendment will go a long way toward reining in the FBI’s ability to monitor Americans, while ensuring that national security threats posed by foreign adversaries like China can continue to be investigated.
Heritage Action supports the warrant requirement amendment to H.R. 7888 - Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, prohibiting warrantless searches of U.S. person communications in the FISA 702 database. The amendment vote will be included as a key vote on our legislative scorecard.
BACKGROUND:
The Heritage Foundation: How to Fix the FBI
The Heritage Foundation: Evaluation of the Competing House Bills on FISA Reform: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly