SE Valley Times

Today, Congressman Andy Biggs (R-AZ) expressed his disappointment in the House's failure to adopt his amendment aimed at stopping warrantless searches of Americans under FISA 702. The vote on H.R. 7888, the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act, resulted in a 212-212 tie, preventing the adoption of the proposed amendment.

In a statement, Congressman Biggs emphasized the significance of protecting the constitutional right to privacy guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment, stating, “Today’s failure of Congress to end warrantless surveillance of Americans under the FISA 702 program is a travesty to the constitutional right to privacy guaranteed by the Fourth Amendment.”

Biggs highlighted concerns about the FBI and the intelligence community's practices, accusing them of bypassing the Fourth Amendment through backdoor searches of Americans' data. He referenced alarming statistics from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, revealing that the FBI conducted 278,000 warrantless backdoor searches on American citizens in a single year, violating their self-imposed rules. The searches targeted various groups, including donors to a congressional candidate, attendees of political protests, journalists, political commentators, Members of Congress, and other government officials.

The Congressman criticized the decision of 86 Republicans who sided with the opposition, stating, “86 Republicans sided with Joe Biden and the Uniparty to oppose stronger protections for Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights. Their deference to the DC Cartel is telling.”

Despite the setback, Biggs expressed gratitude for the bipartisan support received from colleagues in both the House and the Senate. He vowed to continue fighting to safeguard Americans from government surveillance, concluding, “Though disappointing, this setback is not the end of our fight to safeguard Americans from being surveilled by their own government.”