Dear Patriot,
There is a lot of chaos happening all around us these days. While attention is diverted elsewhere, it's important you and I don't ignore what is happening in Congress. So, I wanted to give you a summary on what's happened regarding renewal of the so-called USA FREEDOM Act.
As you will see, what's happened shows how much progress we have made in this battle!
Let me tell you about it. . .
The House of Representatives was scheduled to vote on H.R. 6172, legislation reauthorizing three of the most dangerous provisions of the USA FREEDOM Act, this past Wednesday.
The House was also going to vote on an amendment to the bill requiring federal agencies to obtain a warrant before spying on Americans’ Internet use.
A similar amendment came within one vote of passing the Senate after Campaign for Liberty supporters like you flooded the Senate with calls.
The amendment would have passed had two senators -- who claimed they would have voted for it -- not missed the vote.
What makes this especially noteworthy is that the amendments had a 60-vote threshold.
So now, thanks in large part to Campaign for Liberty supporters like you, the majority of the Senate is on record opposing warrantless surveillance of American citizens’ online browsing and searches.
And with Campaign for Liberty supporters flooding the House with calls in support of the amendment, we came very close to scoring an important victory for liberty and the Constitution.
Then, the lead sponsor for the amendment in the House, Democrat Representative Zoe Lofgren (CA-19), agreed to change the amendment to get the support of House Intelligence Chairman Adam Schiff (CA-28).
Schiff’s change opened the door for the FBI and other intelligence agencies to collect all data connected to an IP address without first making sure there were no American citizens using that site.
In other words, Schiff’s changes provided a loophole for intelligence agencies to continue collecting our Internet history without first obtaining a warrant. This change caused the amendment to lose support from progressive Democrats and liberty-minded Republicans, including the amendment’s lead Republican cosponsor Warren Davidson (OH-8).
As a result, Speaker Nancy Pelosi -- who has a history of doing the deep state’s bidding -- decided to bring the bill to the floor without providing any opportunity to vote on the amendment.
Then, President Trump took to Twitter to urge all Republicans to vote NO on the bill. . .
And promised to veto the bill if it passed!
As a result, Republicans who voted for the bill in March changed positions and opposed it this time around. Pelosi could not pass the bill without Republican support.
So instead of voting on the actual bill, the House voted to request a conference with the Senate.
The Senate will likely pass a motion to go to conference this week, and the final bill will likely be presented sometime this summer.
It is frustrating to come so close to getting real reform that rolls back the surveillance state, only to be thwarted because the House sponsor decided to “compromise” with one of the Deep State’s biggest lackeys.
But Campaign for Liberty supporters should consider how far we have come. Five years ago, Senate Leader Mitch McConnell was able to block Senator Rand Paul from offering ANY amendments to the USA FREEDOM Act. This time around, we nearly passed the amendment banning warrantless seizure of our Internet browsing and search history.
And your continued action paid off when the House could not muster enough votes to pass the bill outright.
If the House were to hold an up-or-down vote on forcing government agencies to get a warrant before spying on our Internet use, we very well could win. And if President Trump stands firm, we will be able to get other major reforms as the price of avoiding a presidential veto.
So, we are making progress on this issue.
Campaign for Liberty will continue to push to end all unconstitutional surveillance, and as long as we can count on your action and support, I am confident we can win this battle.
In Liberty,
Norman Singleton
President
P.S. With the Senate yet to appoint conferees, Campaign for Liberty supporters should contact their senators and insist they oppose any reauthorization of the Deep State's warrantless spying on American citizens.
202-224-3121