We can’t give Trump this spying power

For nearly 20 years, Congress has been granting presidential administrations the power to spy on American citizens without a warrant under Section 702 of a little-known law called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

There are a lot of parts of this law that are important for national security and to protect us against foreign threats. But the federal government has no business running a program to spy on its own citizens without a court order.

Presidents from both sides of the aisle have abused these powers. This isn't a red issue or a blue issue. NO presidential administration should have this authority.

Since this law went into effect, I've been leading the charge in Congress to implement real reforms to rein in presidential spying authorities under Section 702.

Last week, we had a big victory in this battle.

Right now, Trump's enablers in Congress are trying their best to renew this spying program. But early Friday morning, we successfully defeated a bill in the Senate to rubber-stamp these powers. It was defeated on the Senate floor 47 to 52.

We have never seen a coalition like the one that stood up against this legislation.

Elected officials on both sides of the aisle are waking up to the fact that NO president should have this power.

I'm going to keep leading the charge in the Senate for real reforms that don't sacrifice Americans' constitutional right to privacy.

Onward,

Ron