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Dear Friend,
I have been busy in Washington fighting for the Constitution and against wasteful spending.
House Considers Massie-Lofgren-Poe Amendment to Shut Surveillance Backdoors
Yesterday, the House of Representatives considered an amendment that I introduced with Congresswoman Zoe Lofgren (D-CA) and Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX) to the Fiscal Year 2017 Department of Defense (DOD) appropriations bill (H.R. 5293). The amendment would defund two surveillance “backdoors” that currently allow intelligence agencies access to Americans’ private data and correspondence without a warrant. The amendment failed, 198-222.
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| Click on the photo to watch Rep. Massie debate this amendment on the House floor. |
In 2014, I introduced an identical amendment to the DOD appropriations bill. The House of Representatives passed that amendment 293-123, a veto-proof majority. Unfortunately, the amendment was stripped from the end of the year omnibus spending bill.
In 2015, I introduced the same amendment, and it still overwhelmingly passed 255-174. But again, the amendment was stripped from that year’s omnibus bill.
Undeterred, I introduced the same exact amendment this year.
Congress should not abandon the Constitution in the face of terrorism. Unfortunately, proponents of warrantless surveillance mischaracterized our legislation and its bearing on the investigation in Orlando. Our amendment merely reasserts the constitutional requirement that the government have probable cause and a warrant, both of which are easily obtainable in the case of Omar Mateen.
Section 702 of the FISA Amendments Act specifically prohibits targeting Americans, but their private data and communications – including emails, photos, and text messages – are often incidentally collected by intelligence agencies, provided that data or communication at some point crosses the border of the United States. Given the current fluid nature of electronic communications and data storage, in which corporate and private server farms store Americans’ data all over the world, this loophole could allow intelligence agencies access to a vast swath of communications and data without warrant protection. Intelligence officials have confirmed to Congress that law enforcement agencies actively search the content of this intercepted data without probable cause, and have used evidence gathered to assist in criminal prosecutions. Government agencies have also reportedly coerced individuals and organizations to build encryption “backdoors” into products or services for surveillance purposes, despite industry and cryptologist claims that this process is not technologically feasible without putting the data security of every individual using these services at risk. The Massie-Lofgren-Poe Amendment would prohibit funding for activities that exploit these “backdoors.”
House Considers Massie-Jones Amendment to Cut Wasteful Foreign Aid
The House also considered an amendment I introduced to the DOD appropriations bill with Representative Walter Jones (R-NC). The amendment would defund the Pentagon’s counternarcotics activities in Afghanistan. Since 2002, the United States has spent more than $8 billion on counternarcotics efforts in Afghanistan. Over that same period, opium production in that country has increased dramatically! I'm concerned that we are just throwing money away, while not even trying to stop opium production. Unfortunately, the amendment failed, 48-372. Even though the amendment failed, I feel it was worthwhile to have this debate and to put my colleagues on record.
The war on drugs in Afghanistan has been a failure. Since the U.S. military entered Afghanistan in 2001, the country’s opium production has doubled, and the area being cultivated for opium in Afghanistan has tripled. This proliferation of opium production in Afghanistan has dramatically decreased the global price, which makes heroin cheaper worldwide and easier to access. Congress should end this wasteful and ineffective foreign spending immediately and use these funds to secure our border and prevent the influx of opium and heroin.
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| Click on the photo to watch Rep. Massie debate this amendment on the House floor. |
On March 16, 2016, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform held a congressional hearing to investigate infrastructure projects in Afghanistan. I had five minutes to question a panel of experts, which included John F. Sopko (Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction) and Christine S. Abizaid (Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Central Asia).
I asked if our government has anything to show for the $8 billion dollars we have spent on counternarcotics efforts in Afghanistan since 2002, because opiate production in that country is the highest it's ever been and the heroin problem in the United States continues to grow. Watch their response by clicking here.
The hearings in our Oversight and Government Reform committee have exposed other wasteful spending in Afghanistan, and have encouraged my colleagues to offer additional amendments to curb the flow of questionable foreign aid to that country. For instance, I was a co-sponsor of an amendment Congressman Tim Walberg (R-MI) offered to prohibit funds from being used to obligate or expend funds on Afghanistan Infrastructure Fund projects. It passed on a vote of 218 to 201. I am hopeful that eventually all of our amendments to stop wasteful spending overseas will prevail.
I will continue to fight for the Constitution and against wasteful spending.
In Liberty,
Congressman Thomas Massie
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