Statement on the USA Freedom Act

Washington, DC (December 11, 2013) – Rep. Jan Schakowsky released the following statement on the USA Freedom Act:

“Today, I signed on as a cosponsor of H.R. 3361, the USA Freedom Act. This bipartisan, bicameral legislation is a serious and substantive step toward reining in the sweeping surveillance powers that Congress has given the government. As a longtime-opponent of both the USA Patriot Act and the FISA Amendments Act, I believe that the USA Freedom Act strikes a better balance between protecting our national security and safeguarding the civil liberties that we, as Americans, hold dear.

“As a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, I have spent the last several months actively engaged in discussions about how to achieve a better balance between guarding our national security and protecting civil liberties. I take this issue very seriously and I’m committed to making substantive changes to ensure that the U.S. government is not needlessly collecting call data and email messages of law-abiding Americans.

“The USA Freedom Act contains several critical provisions to protect the privacy of law-abiding Americans. It would prohibit dragnet collection of phone records under section of 215 of the PATRIOT Act, and instead allow the collection of only documents that are records relevant to an investigation and that pertain to a foreign power or agent. The legislation also places stricter limits on the collection of internet communications and provides additional safeguards for warrantless surveillance under the FISA Amendments Act. In addition, it will improve transparency and accountability in the FISA process – among other changes, it creates a Special Advocate responsible for advocating specifically for the protection of privacy rights and civil liberties before the FISA court.

“I’m proud to join over 100 of my colleagues as a cosponsor of the USA Freedom Act. I will continue to work, through the Intelligence Community, to seek additional answers about our surveillance programs. I look forward to working with Congressmen Conyers and Sensenbrenner to pass this important legislation.”

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