The Senate Should Move Quickly on Surveillance Reform

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, the House of Representatives passed H.R. 2048, the USA FREEDOM Act, 338-88. The bill ends the NSA’s bulk collection of Americans’ telephone records under Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s pen/trap statute, and National Security Letters.

“With such strong bipartisan support in the House, the Senate should act quickly to pass the USA FREEDOM act in order to end the most egregious constitutional violation: the bulk collection of Americans’ telephone records,” said Berin Szoka, President of TechFreedom. “Senators must reject calls to reauthorize the PATRIOT Act without significant reform, whether that’s for a month, a year, or five years.”

“If the Senate fails to pass USA FREEDOM, it will perpetuate unconstitutional privacy intrusions, wasteful spending on ineffective spying, and harm to American businesses abroad,” continued Szoka. “Any delay will give hawkish members of Congress more time to weaken the bill with amendments.”

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We can be reached for comment at media@techfreedom.org. See our other work on the USA FREEDOM Act here.