Extension of Authorities of Title VII of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978

Floor Speech

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Mr. CRAWFORD. Mr. Speaker, here is what we know: We are in an elevated threat level with FIFA World Cup games beginning this week, America's 250th birthday and related celebrations coming up this summer, Iran and its proxies are targeting U.S. military personnel daily, and the 25th commemoration of the September 11 terrorist attacks will be coming up.

We know that FISA 702 is the most important foreign intelligence authority to detect and mitigate national security threats.

This week, the World Cup kicks off, and 45 countries descend upon the United States for World Cup games, which just so happens to be the week that Democrats have actively chosen to disallow this critical national security tool from being renewed and allow it to go dark.

Democrats have chosen to compromise national security and the safety of Americans to play, essentially, political chicken with an essential national security tool. This is unserious, very dangerous behavior on the part of congressional Democrats.

Mr. Speaker, we are not talking about the policy. Instead, my colleagues on the other side of the aisle are talking about personalities. They are concerned about personalities. They are not concerned about the policy.

I know, because they are really smart, that they understand that the DNI has no 702 query authority. Either they know that to be true and, yet, continue on this personality conflict issue, or they don't know that the DNI doesn't have 702 query authority. In either case, it is wrong.

We are not debating the underlying policy here. We are debating personalities, and that is a real shame.

Chuck Schumer, Hakeem Jeffries, and Mark Warner are all members of the Gang of Eight. They have all been read into the threats, as I have. They know the highest levels of national security threats, above every other Member of Congress, and they are all willing to let this program go dark and subject the American people to all manner of threats that might materialize here in the absence of this program.

That is an abdication of their constitutional responsibilities. It is shameful is what it is, for Gang of Eight members, who understand what is at stake, who have been read in at the highest levels, who understand the importance of 702, who know that 60 percent of the Presidential daily brief is derived from 702, for them to say ``no'' because they don't like the individual in question who doesn't even have 702 query authority. So let's go ahead and take this program hostage to make a political point because they don't like President Trump either.

That is what this has devolved into. It is an absolute shame. If this authority lapses starting on Saturday, we move into uncharted territory. It is unclear how providers will respond to statutory expiration, especially the lapse in liability protection and how uncertain this will impact foreign intelligence that is critical for policy and security decisions.

Once this authorization expires, the clock starts ticking. The implications get worse every single day.

While the 702 database would remain available to search, the data in that database will become increasingly out of date with potential provider noncompliance with orders, litigation by providers or outside groups, and even reticence by agency personnel to continue implementing an expired authority for fear of personal liability.

Enough is enough. Let's just get past the personalities, if we can, recognize the need to take care of the people in this country, and to secure our country. That is one of the things that we are supposed to do in this institution, is to protect the American people. Let's do that, take the personality potshots offline because if we want to do that, we have plenty of material to work with. Yet, let's just focus on the policy here, get this done, and move forward.

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