The USA Freedom Act would “undo much of...
The USA Freedom Act would “undo much of the damage of the Patriot Act,” Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., told crowds Saturday at the Stop Watching Us rally in Washington against National Security Agency domestic surveillance. The bill is expected to…
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have at least 60 co-sponsors in the House and be introduced Tuesday (CD Oct 28 p1). The proposed legislation would end bulk collection of phone metadata, create a constitutional advocate for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, allow companies to disclose information about the surveillance requests they receive, and tighten FISA Section 702. The rally was the product of a coalition of groups including Free Press, Public Knowledge and the American Civil Liberties Union. Amash has been an outspoken critic of such surveillance, and an amendment he put forward with Conyers to cut the NSA’s funding was narrowly defeated this summer. The Amash amendment debate was “the proudest moment for me as an elected official,” Amash said. “It scared people. It scared the establishment in both parties. We had the president of the United States fighting against the amendment.” Amash warned against the backers of NSA surveillance and the NSA’s potential support of CISPA. “The way CISPA is written, the NSA believes it will legalize what they are currently doing illegally,” Amash said. “Now of course we know that’s nonsense. The Constitution makes what they're doing illegal.” Amash instead pointed to the significance of Congress’s enacting the USA Freedom Act. “So this is something we're going to be working on,” Amash said of the surveillance overhaul, sponsored by House Judiciary Crime and Terrorism Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich. “It’s going to be introduced very soon. We need you to speak up, to stand up, to call your representatives. … Let them know you support the USA Freedom Act."