OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Providing for Consideration of the Senate Amendment to H.R. 3979, Protecting Volunteer Firefighters and Emergency Responders Act of 2014; Providing for Consideration of H.R. 5759, Preventing Executive Overreach on Immigration Act of 2014; and Providing for Consideration of H.R. 5781, California Emergency Drought Relief Act of 2014

Floor Speech

Date: Dec. 4, 2014
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: Defense Government Budget and Spending

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Mr. MASSIE. Mr. Speaker, on June 19, 2014, the House of
Representatives passed a historic amendment to the fiscal year 2015
Department of Defense Appropriations Act. The amendment was offered by
myself and Ms. Lofgren, along with several of our House colleagues.

Our amendment blocks government bureaucrats from performing backdoor
warrantless searches of the private email content and telephone calls
of U.S. citizens. The amendment also prohibits the NSA and CIA from
requiring technology companies to place backdoors in their products.

Our amendment passed the House by an overwhelming bipartisan and
veto-proof majority of 293-123. Now, some of those who did not vote for
the amendment told me that they thought the proper place for this
amendment was in the NDAA, not in an appropriations act, and I tend to
agree with them. I would like to see that in the NDAA, but our only
opportunity was to put it into the appropriations bill..

There has been some discussion, unfortunately, of recent talk, if you
will, that this amendment will be stripped from the omnibus. If that is
the case, I think it does belong in the NDAA this year because this is
the bill that authorizes these programs that we have heard so much
about.

Americans were horrified to learn that the government was spying on
them without even bothering to get a warrant, and the overwhelming
number of Members who voted in favor of the Massie-Lofgren amendment
did so because they listened to their constituents. I would hope we
would listen to our constituents today, include provisions to reform
the NSA, particularly the provision to stop the backdoor warrantless
spying on Americans in this NDAA.

Mr. Speaker, I thank the gentleman for yielding time, and I urge you
to include this in the underlying bill.

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