Congressional Record United States Th of America PROCEEDINGS and DEBATES of the 115 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION
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E PL UR UM IB N U U S Congressional Record United States th of America PROCEEDINGS AND DEBATES OF THE 115 CONGRESS, FIRST SESSION Vol. 163 WASHINGTON, TUESDAY, OCTOBER 31, 2017 No. 176 House of Representatives The House met at noon and was the Federal Land and Water Conserva- two reasons for the American Revolu- called to order by the Speaker pro tem- tion Fund. tion that came about. The right of pri- pore (Mr. FERGUSON). Current law requires the territories vacy is a natural right, as Thomas Jef- f and D.C. to split six ways a single ferson said, one of the rights given to State’s annual LWCF allocation. This us by our Creator. DESIGNATION OF SPEAKER PRO bill fixes this disparity by providing a So, our ancestors wrote the Fourth TEMPORE full, State-equivalent share of Land Amendment, unique to the United The SPEAKER pro tempore laid be- and Water Conservation Fund funding States, and here is what it says: fore the House the following commu- for each territory and D.C. every year. ‘‘The right of the people to be secure nication from the Speaker: This additional funding is needed to in their persons, houses, papers, and ef- WASHINGTON, DC, improve our public parks, our outdoor fects, against unreasonable searches October 31, 2017. sports fields, and our community open and seizures, shall not be violated, and I hearby appoint the Honorable A. DREW spaces on Guam and the other terri- no warrants shall issue, but upon prob- FERGUSON, IV to act as Speaker pro tempore tories, especially as Puerto Rico and able cause, supported by oath or affir- on this day. the U.S. Virgin Islands rebuild from re- mation’’—that means the officer has to PAUL D. RYAN, cent hurricanes. Speaker of the House of Representatives. swear to it—‘‘and particularly describ- So, Mr. Speaker, I encourage our col- ing the place to be searched, and the f leagues to cosponsor this bipartisan persons or things to be seized’’—Fourth MORNING-HOUR DEBATE legislation and support the LWCF par- Amendment. ity for the territories and the District So what does that have to do with us The SPEAKER pro tempore. Pursu- of Columbia. ant to the order of the House of Janu- today? I will explain. f ary 3, 2017, the Chair will now recog- Congress has passed the FISA legisla- nize Members from lists submitted by WE MUST NOT ABUSE THE tion, the Foreign Intelligence Surveil- the majority and minority leaders for FOURTH AMENDMENT lance Act, which allows government to morning-hour debate. The SPEAKER pro tempore. The go after terrorists and people who are The Chair will alternate recognition Chair recognizes the gentleman from working as an agent of a foreign gov- between the parties. All time shall be Texas (Mr. POE) for 5 minutes. ernment and search their information. equally allocated between the parties, Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, gov- They go to a secret court and get a se- and in no event shall debate continue ernments, militaries, and civilizations cret warrant—it is called a FISA war- beyond 1:50 p.m. Each Member, other sometimes ignore history to justify rant—from a FISA judge to allow that than the majority and minority leaders their actions against individuals. search of all that information. Sepa- and the minority whip, shall be limited A bit of history is important here. rate the bad guys from Americans who to 5 minutes. When the British controlled the Colo- they may be communicating with unre- f nies, they heavily taxed the Colonies. lated to terrorism. They may be cous- Citizens had to pay a tax on goods they ins talking about whatever. But gov- LWCF PARITY FOR TERRITORIES brought in to the Colonies. The Colo- ernment, our government, NSA, seizes AND DC ACT nies had no say on the imposition of that information on Americans— The SPEAKER pro tempore. The those taxes. That is another issue. emails, conversations, text messages— Chair recognizes the gentlewoman from The King issued writs of assistance. seizes all that information and keeps it Guam (Ms. BORDALLO) for 5 minutes. What that was was a piece of paper al- forever. Ms. BORDALLO. Mr. Speaker, I am lowing the British military to go into And here is what happens in the vio- indeed proud to introduce the LWCF businesses and homes, unreasonably, to lation of Americans’ right of privacy: Parity for Territories and D.C. Act, search to see if the Colonies were pay- Government then can go back into that with the support of all six Members of ing the tax on imported goods. For ex- information, unrelated to terrorism, to the House representing our U.S. terri- ample, John Hancock was a merchant. search to see if those people are paying tories and the District of Columbia as They would search his business to see their taxes. Maybe somebody didn’t original cosponsors. if he had a tax stamp on the rum he pay their taxes on importation of Irish Mr. Speaker, this bipartisan bill brought the Colonies. whiskey. So the government, IRS, files gives parity to Guam, the other terri- The right of privacy and the right to a criminal case against that American tories, and D.C. in annual funding from say something about your taxes were citizen. b This symbol represents the time of day during the House proceedings, e.g., b 1407 is 2:07 p.m. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. H8277 . VerDate Sep 11 2014 23:57 Oct 31, 2017 Jkt 079060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 7634 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\A31OC7.000 H31OCPT1 SSpencer on DSKBBV9HB2PROD with HOUSE H8278 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — HOUSE October 31, 2017 Remember, all of that information searches and the number of queries were members of their Presidential cam- was based upon no probable cause war- blacked out in the ruling. paign. rant issued by a real judge. The NSA gathers communications in ways Monday’s indictment of President We are getting ready to reauthorize, known as ‘‘upstream’’ and ‘‘downstream’’ Trump’s campaign chairman, Paul collection. Upstream collection occurs when maybe, FISA, the Foreign Intelligence data are captured as they move through Manafort, and guilty plea of another Surveillance Act. Before we do that, we massive data highways—the internet back- campaign staff member demonstrate need to protect Americans’ right of pri- bone—within the United States. Downstream how important it is for Congress to act. vacy. It is in a section called 702. It collection occurs as data move outside the The pardon power is supposed to be a really gets down in the weeds. 702 has country along fiber optic cables and satellite safety valve against injustice, a vestige been abused by government to seize links. from when we were part of Britain and American information and then keep it Data captured from both upstream and the King had this power. We are no downstream sources are stored in massive longer part of Britain, and that power forever. Government then peruses that, databases, available to be searched when an- based upon their high-tech guys in the alysts need to, often months or as much as should not be as complete as it is. It is NSA, to see if crimes were committed two years after the captures took place. not supposed to be a way for Presidents or not. They have no warrant, no prob- The prohibited searches the court men- to put themselves, their families, and able cause, nobody sworn to the war- tioned involved NSA queries into the up- members of their administration and rant. stream databanks, which constitute a frac- their campaign team above the law, to I used to be a judge. I signed lots of tion of all the data NSA captures around the obstruct justice if there is an inves- probable cause warrants. But here it is globe but are more likely to contain the tigation of wrongdoing. emails and phone calls of people in the Unless we change the Constitution, just seized because government says: United States. Well, we have got it because we were Federal law empowers the NSA and CIA to this is how it can be used and may be looking for a terrorist and it is an inci- battle foreign terrorist actions against the used. We should stop this conflict of in- dental search, and we want to keep it. United States by collecting the electronic terest from ever arising. That is a violation of the Constitu- communications of targets believed to be There are already serious questions tion. We should make sure Americans’ outside the country. While communications swirling around the current President, right of privacy is protected before we of U.S. citizens or residents may get his family, and members of his admin- reauthorize FISA. hoovered up in such sweeps, they are consid- istration and his campaign staff, in- ered ‘‘incidental’’ and must be ‘‘mini- Mr. Speaker, I include in the RECORD mized’’—removing the identities of Ameri- cluding possible collusion with Russia this article, ‘‘Secret Court Rebukes cans—before broader distribution. during the 2016 Presidential election NSA for 5-Year Illegal Surveillance of The court filing noted an NSA decision currently being investigated by special U.S. Citizens,’’ to illustrate. March 30 to narrow collection of ‘‘upstream’’ counsel Robert Mueller. To ensure that SECRET COURT REBUKES NSA FOR 5-YEAR data within the United States. Under that everyone is treated equally under the ILLEGAL SURVEILLANCE OF U.S.