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

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, by direction of the Committee on Rules, I call up House Resolution 1137 and ask for its immediate consideration.

The Clerk read the resolution, as follows: H. Res. 1137

Resolved, That at any time after adoption of this resolution the Speaker may, pursuant to clause 2(b) of rule XVIII, declare the House resolved into the Committee of the Whole House on the state of the Union for consideration of the bill (H.R. 7888) to reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978. The first reading of the bill shall be dispensed with. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. General debate shall be confined to the bill and shall not exceed one hour equally divided among and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary or their respective designees and the chair and ranking minority member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence or their respective designees. After general debate the bill shall be considered for amendment under the five-minute rule. An amendment in the nature of a substitute consisting of the text of Rules Committee Print 118-27 shall be considered as adopted. The bill, as amended, shall be considered as the original bill for the purpose of further amendment under the five-minute rule and shall be considered as read. All points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended, are waived. No further amendment to the bill, as amended, shall be in order except those printed in the report of the Committee on Rules accompanying this resolution. Each such further amendment may be offered only in the order printed in the report, may be offered only by a Member designated in the report, shall be considered as read, shall be debatable for the time specified in the report equally divided and controlled by the proponent and an opponent, shall not be subject to amendment, and shall not be subject to a demand for division of the question in the House or in the Committee of the Whole. All points of order against such further amendments are waived. At the conclusion of consideration of the bill for amendment the Committee shall rise and report the bill, as amended, to the House with such further amendments as may have been adopted. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any further amendment thereto to final passage without intervening motion except one motion to recommit.

Sec. 2. Upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order to consider in the House the bill (H.R. 529) to extend the customs waters of the United States from 12 nautical miles to 24 nautical miles from the baselines of the United States, consistent with Presidential Proclamation 7219. All points of order against consideration of the bill are waived. The amendment in the nature of a substitute recommended by the Committee on Ways and Means now printed in the bill shall be considered as adopted. The bill, as amended, shall be considered as read. All points of order against provisions in the bill, as amended, are waived. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the bill, as amended, and on any further amendment thereto to final passage without intervening motion except: (1) one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Ways and Means or their respective designees; and (2) one motion to recommit.

Sec. 3. Upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order without intervention of any point of order to consider in the House the resolution (H. Res. 1112) denouncing the Biden administration's immigration policies. The resolution shall be considered as read. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the resolution and preamble to adoption without intervening motion or demand for division of the question except one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary or their respective designees.

Sec. 4. Upon adoption of this resolution it shall be in order without intervention of any point of order to consider in the House the resolution (H. Res. 1117) opposing efforts to place one-sided pressure on Israel with respect to Gaza. The resolution shall be considered as read. The previous question shall be considered as ordered on the resolution and preamble to adoption without intervening motion or demand for division of the question except one hour of debate equally divided and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on Foreign Affairs or their respective designees.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, for the purpose of debate only, I yield the customary 30 minutes to the gentleman from Colorado (Mr. Neguse), pending which I yield myself such time as I may consume. During consideration of this resolution, all time yielded is for the purpose of debate only. General Leave
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, the committee granted by a recorded vote of 8-4 a rule providing for consideration of the following measures: H.R. 7888, the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act; H.R. 529, the Extending Limits of U.S. Customs Waters Act; H. Res. 1112, Denouncing the Biden Administration's Immigration Policies; and H. Res. 1117, Opposing Efforts to Place One-Sided Pressure on Israel With Respect to Gaza.

The rule provides for consideration of H.R. 7888, the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, under a structured rule.

The rule waives all points of order against consideration of the bill. The rule provides 1 hour of general debate equally divided among and controlled by the chair and ranking minority member of the Committee on the Judiciary or their respective designees and the chair and ranking minority member of the Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence or their respective designees.

Let's talk about the rule for H.R. 7888, the highly anticipated and heavily debated Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act.

There will be six amendments allowed for this bill, and they break down into three different categories.

There are three amendments from the Judiciary Committee that basically limit or constrain the government in its use of the FISA 702 program.

The first one is Mr. Biggs' amendment. It is probably the most discussed amendment, and it would prohibit warrantless searches of U.S. person communications in the FISA 702 database.

The second is Mr. Roy's amendment, which requires the FBI to report to Congress on a quarterly basis the number of U.S. person queries conducted.

Mr. Cline's amendment prohibits the resumption of ``abouts'' collection under section 702.

The intel amendments basically expand the FISA program.

Mr. Crenshaw's amendment expands the definition of foreign intelligence to allow targeting and collection of information about illicit drugs. Instead of just being about terrorism, it will expand the program to include illicit drugs.

Mr. Waltz' amendment expands the use of section 702 by allowing it to be used to vet foreigners traveling into the United States.

Mr. Turner's amendment expands the definition of ``electronic communication service provider'' under section 702.

We will have a full and robust debate on those amendments after this rule passes.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, I congratulate the gentleman from Texas (Mr. Burgess), in his appointment as the new chairman of the Rules Committee.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. MASSIE. Hageman), my friend and colleague on the Judiciary Committee.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. MASSIE. Greene), my good friend.
BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. MASSIE. Did the gentleman address his remarks to somebody on this side of the aisle?

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. MASSIE. We are here today to pass a rule that will bring up a program for a vote that has been abused hundreds of thousands of times, abused by the FBI's own standards hundreds of thousands of times. Every time they have used it, they have actually abused it because they have not followed the constitutional requirement in the Fourth Amendment.

Today, if we pass this rule, we will have votes on six different amendments. Three of these amendments will expand the program, and three of these amendments will constrain the program.

There are people who say this bill is fine as is, that it doesn't need any amendments. Here is the problem with that: If we believed that, why would we put exemptions for Congress in this bill?

There are exemptions for Congress in the base bill of 702. What do they do? They say that if a Congressman is going to have their privacy violated with the 702 program by the FBI, the FBI has to notify Congress. It goes on to say in this bill that if the FBI is going to tell us that they are doing it for our own good, they have to get permission from the Congressman whose privacy is going to be violated. Why does that only apply to Members of this body?

The Constitution provides that we should give these protections to everybody. The Constitution requires a warrant. That is one of the amendments that will be offered here today.

In fact, the chairman and the ranking member of the Judiciary Committee--the committee of jurisdiction for this legislation, the committee that many years ago created the 702 program--have said that if the warrant provision is not adopted, they will not vote to renew this program. I applaud them for taking that stand because the Fourth Amendment to our Constitution says: ``The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.''

The FISA 702 program is clearly in violation of the Fourth Amendment. We can fix it, for the most part, with one amendment. There will still be other defects in the FISA program.

I will just close by saying this: America is watching us today. They are going to watch the results of this vote. What will we do here today? Are we going to carve out exemptions for Congress? Are we going to protect ourselves but not the American people, or are we going to provide them with the protections that our Founding Fathers enshrined in our Constitution?

We swore an oath to do that when we took these offices as legislators, and we need to follow that oath. That is why I urge adoption of this rule. I urge people to vote for the warrant amendment, and I urge people not to vote for the final bill if the protections of the warrant amendment are not there.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Source