U.S. SENATE — Today, U.S. Senator Steve Daines lambasted legislation to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which failed to make the necessary reforms needed to protect Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights.
“Today, the U.S. Senate passed a flawed bill that encroaches on Americans’ privacy and civil liberties,” said Daines. “Montanans should be able to talk on the phone and send messages to their friends and loved ones without fearing the government will collect data on their private conversations. I will continue to stand up for Montanans’ right to privacy.”
Daines actions to protect Americans’ privacy:
Daines is a cosponsor of the USA RIGHTS Act of 2017, which reforms government surveillance programs to balance Americans’ privacy with effective national security.
On February 17, 2017 Daines introduced the Stopping Mass Hacking (SMH) Act to protect millions of law-abiding Americans from government hacking.
On November 17, 2016, Daines introduced the Review the Rule Act to provide Congress the time necessary to seriously consider and debate the proposed changes to Rule 41 that would expand the government’s ability to search computers and other digital devices.
On October 27, 2016 Daines stood up for Montanans’ right to privacy and pressed Attorney General Loretta Lynch to provide Congress with more information about a proposed expansion of government hacking and surveillance powers.
On May 19, 2016, Daines introduced the Stopping Mass Hacking (SMH) Act to protect millions of law-abiding Americans from government hacking.
On April 28, 2015 Daines joined colleagues in introducing the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015, bipartisan legislation that ends the bulk collection of Americans’ phone records.
In the House, Daines was a vocal critic of the National Security Agency’s (NSA) bulk meta-data collection and was an original cosponsor of the original USA FREEDOM Act that would have ended the NSA’s abuses and overreach.
Daines also supported an amendment to the 2014 Department of Defense Appropriations Act, introduced by Representative Justin Amash (R-MI), which called for the end of NSA’s blanket collection of Americans’ telephone records by authorizing the FISA court to order the production of business records and other “tangible items” that pertain only to a person under an authorized counterterrorism investigation.
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