Thread by @justinamash

Last year, President Trump signed into law a bill to give the FBI and NSA extraordinary powers to warrantlessly collect Americans’ communications under Sec. 702 of FISA. This week, the House will consider my amendment to #HR2740, offered with @RepZoeLofgren, to rein in FISA.

This is part of a long-running effort to reform FISA and the Patriot Act—an effort that is being undermined by the Trump administration. Later this year, we’ll have an opportunity to challenge Sec. 215 of the Patriot Act.

Since before the Trump administration, I’ve been leading a bipartisan coalition in Congress fighting the government’s efforts to expand the ability of agencies like the FBI and NSA to collect Americans’ communications without a warrant.

Our primary concern has never been about particular individuals in government who use surveillance authorities; our focus is on limiting the authorities and adding safeguards so that Americans’ rights are protected *regardless* of who in government is doing the surveillance.

The reason for this focus is obvious: We can’t guarantee the government will always hire employees who will respect the people’s rights, so we have to ensure that the law prevents whoever is in government from violating the Constitution or acting without sufficient oversight.

The White House is undermining this effort to fight unconstitutional surveillance by instead framing surveillance concerns as a problem with particular individuals at the FBI, as if protecting Americans’ rights is just about hiring the right personnel, instead of changing FISA.

The Trump administration’s narrative allows the White House to complain about FISA abuse while at the same time fighting those of us in Congress who are actually trying to change the laws to prevent unconstitutional spying on Americans.

In 2018, we voted on FISA 702, and I offered an amendment to limit warrantless collection of Americans’ communications. Instead of supporting that amendment, the White House issued a veto threat, and Trump ultimately signed a FISA 702 bill that creates even more privacy problems.

The 2018 bill reauthorized Sec. 702 of FISA for six years—a section that allows for the warrantless collection of Americans’ communications. In his statement after signing the bill, Pres. Trump’s only criticism was that he’d prefer that the bill reauthorize Sec. 702 permanently.

Because the White House prevented us from fixing these issues last year, this week I’m offering an amendment to #HR2740 to narrow the government’s collections under FISA, limiting the warrantless gathering of Americans’ communications.

If the administration is serious about FISA abuse, then they’ll support my amendment to rein in FISA—to better ensure that the government protects the privacy of all Americans in accordance with the Constitution.