Ensuring Tax Exempt Organizations the Right to Appeal Act

Floor Speech

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Mr. DAINES. I thank my colleague for raising this important issue on the Senate floor today. It wasn't all that long ago that I served as a House Member. I served one term in the House and then came over to the Senate this year. I came over to the Senate floor, and I stood in support of my colleague's efforts to protect the American civil liberties and ensure drones are not being used to target American citizens on our own soil.

In fact, I am grateful to see that in the Senate Chamber today, we have five House Members who are here standing with the Senator from Kentucky as he makes his very important point which relates to our Constitution and our freedom.

Well, 2 years later, we are here again, and the threats to America's civil liberties and constitutional freedoms remain ever present.

As my colleague from Kentucky is well aware, I spent more than 12 years in the technology sector before being elected to Congress. I know firsthand the power that Big Data holds. I also know the great risks that arise when that power is abused.

There is a clear and direct threat to Americans' civil liberties that comes from the mass collection of our personal information in our phone records. I, like so many Montanans, am deeply concerned about the NSA's bulk metadata collection program and its impact on our constitutional rights. In fact, just last night, I hosted a telephone townhall meeting with thousands of Montanans, and one of the issues I heard most about was the NSA's bulk data collection program and when is Congress finally going to put a stop to it. In fact, this is one of the issues I hear most about from my fellow Montanans.

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Montanans are right to be concerned. This program is a direct threat to our constitutional rights. It has jeopardized our civil liberties with little proven effectiveness, and I am the son of a U.S. marine.

Several weeks ago, I was with Leader McConnell and other Senators. When we went to Israel, we met with Prime Minister Netanyahu. When we went to Jordan, we met with King Abdallah. When we went to Iraq, we met with Prime Minister al-Abadi. When we were both in Baghdad, we went up to Erbil and met with the leaders of the Kurds, including Mr. Barzani. We then went to Afghanistan. We were in Kabul, and we were in Jalalabad. We met with President Ghani. We heard directly from the leaders in the Middle East, we heard directly from our U.S. military, and we heard directly from U.S. intelligence about what is going on in the Middle East.

As the father of four and someone who strongly believes in a strong national defense and the importance of protecting our homeland, I weigh these issues very deeply. These are heavy issues we must look at as we want to ensure we protect the homeland and, just as important, protect the Constitution and the constitutional rights of the American people.

As my colleague is likely aware, a 2014 report from the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, which is a nonpartisan, independent privacy board, found that the NSA's bulk data collection program said that it ``contributed only minimal value when combating terrorism beyond what the government already achieves through ..... other alternative means.''

Like the New York-based Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals recently unanimously confirmed, this oversight board found that section 215 of the PATRIOT Act does not provide authority for the NSA's bulk metadata collection program. In fact, the report states:

Under the Section 215 bulk telephone records collection program, the NSA acquires a massive number of calling records from telephone companies each day, potentially including the records of every call made across the nation. Yet Section 215 does not authorize the NSA to acquire anything at all.

It is illegal, it is an overreach of power, and it is a direct threat to our First and Fourth Amendment rights.

In fact, the report goes on to conclude:

The program lacks a viable legal foundation under Section 215, implicates constitutional concerns under the First and Fourth Amendments, raises serious threats to privacy and civil liberties as a policy matter, and has shown only limited value. For these reasons, the government should end the program.

I stand here today with the people of Montana. I stand here today with my colleague from Kentucky. I stand here today with five Members of the U.S. House who are seated in the back of the Senate Chamber: Congressman Duncan of South Carolina, Congressman Blum of Iowa, Congressman Massie of Kentucky, Congressman Labrador of Idaho, and Congressman Amash of Michigan.

I think it is important that the Senate recognize what the people's House did last week when they passed the USA FREEDOM Act. That vote was 338 to 88. To suggest that this is just a small minority of Congress men and women who support the USA FREEDOM Act--this is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee, the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, and the chairman of the Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, amongst many others, who want to make sure we strike the right balance between protecting the homeland and protecting our civil liberties.

The people of Montana, my colleague from Kentucky, the five Members from Congress who are here at this moment, and millions of Americans know I strongly agree with their view on the USA FREEDOM Act.

Like all Americans, I understand the great risks that face our national security. The threats from ISIS, the threats from North Korea, and the threats from Iran grow stronger each and every day.

We must be prepared. We must ensure our intelligence and law enforcement agencies have the tools they need to protect and defend our Nation. But these objectives--national security and protection of our civil liberties--are not mutually exclusive. We can and we must achieve both. We must maintain a balance between protecting our Nation's security while also maintaining our civil liberties and our constitutional rights.

All of us standing here today took an oath to protect and defend the Constitution. I took that oath just a few steps away from where I am speaking here today, between myself and the Presiding Officer's chair, occupied at the moment by the Senator from Utah, Mr. Lee.

As all of us here today know, the fight to protect our Constitution and America's civil liberties is far from over. We must remain vigilant and we must also ensure that we have robust and transparent debate about these programs and what reforms must be implemented to protect America's civil liberties. That is why I support the USA FREEDOM Act, which would end the NSA's bulk metadata collection program and why I strongly believe that Congress must engage in an open amendment process. The American people must have their voices heard, and an open amendment process will help ensure that happens.

In light of all we have learned about the NSA's unlawful bulk data collection program, it is clear that reforms must happen. It is critical that Americans' rights are protected against the overreach of their own government.

So I ask the Senator from Kentucky, would he agree that the indiscriminate government collection of Americans' phone records violates the Constitution and, according to two independent commissions, has not proven critical to our national security?

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