OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Providing for Further Consideration of H.R. 4435, Howard P. "Buck" McKeon National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2015; And Providing for Consideration of H.R. 3361, USA FREEDOM Act

Floor Speech

Date: May 21, 2014
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Defense

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Ms. LOFGREN. Mr. Speaker, I rise to express my serious concern about the USA FREEDOM Act.

First, it is important for all of the Members to know that what is being considered is not the bill that was marked up by the House Judiciary Committee. After it was reported out unanimously by the House Judiciary Committee, certain key elements of this bill were changed.

I think it is ironic that a bill that was intended to increase transparency was secretly changed between the committee markup and its floor consideration, and it was altered in worrisome ways.

The definition of ``selector,'' rather than being narrowed, has been defined in such a way that it would allow for the large-scale acquisition of data. This is a concern that has been expressed to me by both Republicans and Democrats.

The way the definition is lodged, you could get first the southern half of the United States, then the eastern half of the United States, then Missouri. Those could be the selectors.

I offered nine amendments. None were put in order. We should insist that we do better than this.

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