Transcripts For CSPAN FISA Reauthorization 20171202

As a reminder to our members, we are here and will remain in open session. This markup will address only unclassified matters. Rrsuant to committee ules, the chair announces he may postpone further questions on approving any measure or adopting an amendment on which a recording a vote is ordered. Without objection, the chair is authorized to declare a recess at anytime. Item for consideration today is fisa act. To amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, to improve foreign intelligence collection and the safeguard of accountability and oversight of acquisition of foreign intelligence to extend title vii of such acts and other purposes. I ask the bill be considered as read and open for amendment at any point. Without objection, so ordered. Today, the committee will consider the fisa reauthorization act that will renew section 702. The Committee Held an indepth discussion and adopted numerous ideas based on those efforts. We drew upon ideas built by another committee. I thanked him for the hard work and consideration they put into this issue. Without congressional action, section 702 will expire at the end of this year. It would be a dangerous blow to the counterterrorism efforts of the Intelligence Committee. Decisive action is needed to help troops and citizens be safe from terror attacks at home and is an section 702 Effective Program that has helped towards potentially devastating helped thwart potentially devastating plots. It has also led to the elimination of critical terror suspects, the second in command of isis who was killed by u. S. Forces in 2016. Frommony to this committee throughout the Intelligence Committee, as well as bipartisan on the Civil Liberties board, executive branch Civil Liberties watchdog, indicate no doubt of the effectiveness. Subject section 702 is to operations should be adjustments to ensure privacy and Civil Liberties are being fully protected. While analyzing the current operations, this committee has identified several areas that should be updated. , the careful Consideration Committee devised several key reforms to section 702 and other surveillance authorities that are included in this bill. These include briefly requiring inquiry procedures separate from the existing procedures that must be reviewed at the foreign Intelligence Surveillance court every year. Adding an optional war and requirement for the fbi to view optional warrant requirements. Temporarily codifying into the nsas section 02 about collection, and breeze the committee. Improving transparency by mandating the publication of section 702 minimization procedures, as well as requiring addition additional reporting as to how they are using other pfizer authorities. The bill will renew these. Uthorities it strikes a careful balance between security and privacy that should give the American People confidence of the Intelligence Community working hard to keep them safe while respecting their privacy and Civil Liberties. I would like to thank the members of this committee who have cosponsored this bill. I would also like to thank the chairman and the committee on appropriations for cosponsoring this bill. As well as the chairman for the committee of the armed services. I also extend takes to kate granger of the Appropriations Committee and ken calvert. All of these members serve as nonvoting numbers of the Intelligence Committee Intelligence Community. Finally, i would like to thank workanking member for his that has been incorporated in this bill, particularly the idea rrantpermissive wa requirement. I want to yield the remainder of my time to mr. Rooney, who chairs the subcommittee. Has the chairman mentioned, this bill reauthorizes section 702, which is a critical intelligence Gathering Program targeting foreigners located overseas. This legislation was carefully crafted based on our committees extensive outreach to members, the house, senate, and the administration over the last two years. We have provided information sessions both on the hill and at the nsa. We have also reached out to the tober to member level discuss the authorities and protections related to section 702 that are currently in place. This strengthens our National Security by adding an emergency provision to fisa. The bill also adds a new foreign power to fisa covering international militias that threaten our cyber security. It also makes key drive us he, including restrictions on the use of fisa section 702 against u. S. People in criminal provocation of unmasking procedures, enhancements to the privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board and various new congressional reporting requirements. These Privacy Protections strengthen congressional oversight of the i. C. As well as transparency of, fisa section 702 without any operational impact. This is an ideal outcome given the effectiveness of fisa section 702 in counterterrorism efforts. Most importantly, it revises the bill for seven years, which ensures the program. As the chairman of the nsa and cyber subcommittee, i am aware of the responsibility we have to keep the American People happy American People to ensure that the Intelligence Community has the tools they need. I hope you will support this bill. I yield back. Yieldnk you, i will now to the Ranking Member for any comments you would like to make. You, mr. Chairman. I would like to take this opportunity to address my colleagues and hope that we can change this hearing from the path it is on at the moment, which is a partyline vote on this proposal, and see if we can still produce an almost completely bipartisan product. What we had suggested when we engaged in the early discussions of the bill was a way of resolving the most difficult issue around 702, and that is how we should deal with queries of the database created by 702. Is a program that has been enormously important to the Intelligence Committee community am on enforcement. Sometimes we target foreigners where information because a foreigner is talking about or to an american is nonetheless captured within the database. Is, under what circumstances should they be able to query that database that may contain information about americans . Should there always be a warrant requirements or only under certain circumstances . How do we make sure this doesnt become a vehicle for fee for fishing expeditions . . What we arrived at was a wasible conclusion that more operationally viable. We would allow queries of the database, but in cases of criminal matters not involving National Security or serious violent crimes, we would require there be a warrant or the evidence cannot be used in court. That i think is a workable construct but the Intelligence Community workable construct. For the Intelligence Community, it prevents fishing for tax fraud. That language is now in the bill. As well as other Privacy Protections we have added to the bill, and i think we have a broad agreement on that. What we do not have rod or any bipartisan but we do not have broad for bipartisan agreement on is we have uncovered evidence that there was ever any improper masking in the 702 program. The unmasking issue to the degree it exists is not in the 702 that we have seen. For this reason, this language is not only unnecessary, but in our view, simply an effort to , and further2 th the political narrative. On there if the shoe was other foot and we were offering language in this bill, and the could have offered language in to make a point on collusion if we wanted to, and you would have said that is politicizing the bill, we will not include your linkage on collusion. We have not sought to do that. What we would ask you to do is not do the same. Mix up the unmasking stuff, which has nothing to do with this program, and the feet what is otherwise a very bipartisan work product, because i will tell you with the result will be. We will have a partyline on this bill and it will go nowhere. The judiciary bill will go nowhere, either, and we will completely abdicate it to the senate. The senate will cobble together whatever they will, and attach it to legislation at the end of the year and all of our efforts will be for naught. I would rather see us not abdicate in that way. I would urge that we come to an agreement that we offer to compromise on the language that we dont think belongs here at all, but we did offer a couple of a compromise. With that, i yield back. Other members wish to be heard. Mr. Conaway . Thank you, mr. Chairman. I find my good friends arguments to be less persuasive. Personal identity should be protected, and what we were trying to do with this unmasking provision is to make sure that happens. We have seen instances in the record we have been collecting so far where it appears to be reckless or certainly an inordinate number of unmaskings of american identity. Without that proof and establishing why, the analyst or whoever is asking for the unmasking to happen. And to hear the argument that we should be less concerned about andprivacy of americans what this attempts to do is quite shocking. This does not hamper the ability of the Intelligence Community to use this 12. It simply protects americans identities. Those americans whose identities should be protected, and there should be a high bar to cross and unmask someones identity for a collection tool that has not gone through the normal Privacy Protection from the Fourth Amendment. This tool is too important to not put in place. By the same token, it is powerful, and its power can be used inappropriately. Whether that is the case or not, we need these audit procedures. We need these procedures to make sure future transitional administrations either coming in or leaving doesnt misuse this. Just because we do not have as you say the scintilla, which is a bit of a stretch, these these are important protections for the American Public to say we will and trust intel agencies with this tool, but we also want to make sure americans are treated fairly and their confidentiality is protected. If an american is involved in some wrongdoing, there are ways to get the identity known to people who should know it. Simple pizza man who was called to deliver pizza, his identity should never be unmasked. I am really concerned with a lot of logic that my good colleague has put forth as to why this should not be in here. Weshould be in here, and will gain the broad support of the American People with the use of this 12. Being able to look at them and say we will require whoever gets , it does not hinder anything in any way. I do not think it is a politicizing of anything other than protection of privacy. I am supportive of what we have done so far. The hope our colleagues would see the wisdom of protecting americans privacy. With that, i yield back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. In a state of mind, i really sat in s because a real sadness because i like this committees work. What we do is really important. We are the only people who billiona roughly 80 operation, which does essential, critical and important things. Dangerous things, controversial things. Theoretically, we could have had a really good debate and conversation about a Controversial Program that we all understand is critical, but also understand gets to its terms on which the government goes through the private communications of american citizens. I am sad because historically this committee has operated in a bipartisan way. Is aad, where we are today bill that was presented to us about 36 hours ago, a bill that has had exactly zero hearings associated with it. I consider him a friend. I am the Ranking Member of this subcommittee. My friend said there has been extensive outreach. I have been invited to zero hearings. Have been asked for zero 702 and that02 subcommittee. We have had no discussions about this. I offered my friend the chairman a letter with thoughts on 702 hoping to start the conversation and received no response. We have had not one hearing on this topic. We saw this bill for the first time 36 hours ago. You have talked about it within the democratic costs caucus. What we do will now be discovered will be scuffed with the unmasking issue. We all know where it came from. The president accused barack obama of wiretapping him, double p, in trump tower. Since that tweet, my friends on the other side have been in toged in a feverish attempt justify that tweet. I have looked at every single unmasking. I have sat in every hearing. Sam powers, susan rice, people who are casually accused of violating the rights of american citizens. I have looked at every single unmasking. Evidencenot a shred of that there was an illegal unmasking. That doesnt mean we couldnt tighten up the process. It should be better documented. I would love to have that conversation, but lets not kid ourselves about what is happening this morning. What is happening this morning, and i say this with great to feed is an attempt the beast, this idea that Barack Obamas Administration Officials illegally unmasked american citizen information. Lets have a hearing about that. Lets at least talk about that. No, were not going to do that. We are going to scuffer a conversation about the terms in which the government gets to look at the private communications of american citizens, something i would relish doing in favor of a nakedly partisan thing that would codify the fantasies of fox news into the United States code. Lets at least have a hearing before we do that. Its at least as in the evidence that we heard from susan rice, that we heard from sam powell. Lets let people see how unmasking is done before we the tray the expectations before we betray the expectations. What our constituents expect us to do and have a conversation. Lets take this seriously. I yield the remainder of my time to the Ranking Member. I think the chairman. I thank the chairman. It is been suggested that there has been no evidence of unmasking under 702, i would ask any of my colleagues in closed session if they would be willing to sit down and show me any evidence under 702 of and on proper unmasking, ok . I will look forward to that. Itif the gentleman with the yield, i would be glad to have a conversation with you. I think you will be very at how you may have been misled. High assure you, i have not been misled. Ive seen the same things i you, i have not been misled. I have seen the same things as you. Havee Bush Administration been accessing the Obama Administration in the manner we have seen and had testimony, there would be outrage on your side. This is about providing oversight. I am reclaiming my time. Mr. Haim time has expired. For the record for the audience, we have had countless hearings and meetings regarding 702. I know that there is not a day that goes by that my colleagues do not get phone calls from someone within the ic who is informing us on the importance of this conversation. We have held for all of the members, both republicans and democrats, with the heads of most of the agencies and in a classified setting, and we have had an Educational Program put together for the republicans to you to on our side, that were welcome to do that. You can still continue to educate the rest of our colleagues, because dealing with fisa is quite complicated. At this time, i want to go to mr. Rooney. We will have time for amendments for those of you who want to offer amendments. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I too am sad because it is unfortunate that the Ranking Member of the subcommittee has brought up our relationship as far as what we talked about game plan orto our i agreean move forward with you i agree with your the last year with the investigation that we are engaged in now. You and i have both seen the importance of reauthorizing this hugely important tool that keeps our country safe and how we will go about doing that. The reason i didnt respond is because i didnt feel the need to respond because i agreed with what you said in your letter. You said we never talked about it. We did talk about what was going to happen with 702 at some point in the future. We did not know when this day would be here, but my job is to make sure i educate the members on our side of the aisle, and your job is to educate the members on your side of the aisle. It is difficult to get everyone is note that this tool sacrificing their Civil Liberties or their Fourth Amendment protections, that we are looking at peoples emails or phone calls without a war and for Fourth Amendment protections, that what we are doing in this bill is within the balancetional were doing in this bill is within the constitutional yet balanced by the National Security guidelines that they would expect and our Founding Fathers would expect. Thats not an easy chore on our side of the aisle. When you talk about our relationship, our communication or lack thereof as you said that does make me sad as well. I will just say this. If trying to tighten the screws on unmasking, which is the one thing i think in this investigation that i thought that we are in agreeance, there was a huge disparity on how people that were either in the administration, and i dont care what side of the aisle they were on, how some people were asking for names to be unmasked with literally, i want this name unmasked because i want it unmasked, versus other people that would give a fullpage explanation as to why and our attempt to make it more uniform and use more strict scrutiny as to how people would get a United States citizens name unmasked, that we could possibly be having an argument on this committee in this room that trying to do a better job and make those screws tighter is somehow political. That somehow thats playing politics. That were trying to make a political statement by doing a little bit better job to make sure theres uniformity within the administration on how United States citizens names are unmasked. How thats political, i have no idea. But that just goes to show how this committee has devolved with something as simple as trying to get unmasking right, how you could potentially vote no on a bill that keeps this country safe because you think that were playing politics with regard to unmasking in the last administration or transition period. Even if thats true, the next administration might be a democrat and guess what, its still in place. If you want it to be in place for a democratic nominee and republican congress, then you get those assurances too. All were trying to do is tighten the screws to make sure that the language for people that are trying to unmask u. S. Citizens names in a Intelligence Report is done with the strictest scrutiny and has to be justified down to the last letter that is reasonable or justified and how you can say thats political and how you can vote no for that, i hope you sleep well at night on that one. That is absurd. I yield back. Mr. Nunes the gentleman yields back. I yield my time to the Ranking Member. Mr. Schiff i thank the gentlewoman for yielding. I think its apparent from the comments of my colleagues and i hope this is just a misunderstanding and not something more deliberate, the critique youre making of unmasking, you have every right to make. But its not about 702. All the comments youve made have not been about this program. And i assume you know that. I hope you know that, and if you dont know that, you will find out the concerns you are expressing will the gentleman yield, you are questioning my level of knowledge . Mr. Schiff i will yield. You are going through what you and i have already read. Testimonies that we were questioning the witnesses, where they related to us what i believe are absolute abuses by the Obama Administration where they did use the process of unmasking to the detriment of the rights of u. S. Citizens. This is a process mr. Schiff reclaiming my time. Are you talking about the program 702 . We are protecting american citizen in the bill. Mr. Schiff i guess the answer is no. I guess your answer is no. That is a precisely my we arent point. Talking about 702. The comments that mr. Rooney. Mr. Schiff that is my point. If you wish to nonetheless interfere with our progress on this issue of this program because of concerns about other things then at least be open about what you are doing, ok. We happen to think this program is too important to be dragged by a debate by something else. Would the gentleman yield . Mr. Schiff i would be happy to yield. Mr. Schiff, you know this is the vote. I understand what you are saying about the differences, but this is the vehicle by which we are going to make the reforms in the problems that we are faced with today. The reality of the situation, forget about the politics of russia and all that, the reality is this is the vehicle moving the reforms we want to do. That is true on your side of the aisle and our side of the aisle. Were going to get this passed. Mr. Schiff reclaiming my time. That the agreement concerns you are raising are not implicated by anything we have seen on 702, are we in agreement on that . Mr. Rooney today is the day we have the chance to make the reforms and if we miss this opportunity mr. Schiff reclaiming my time. I assume we are therefore in agreement that the problems you are talking about are not pertaining to this program and using this vehicle. My plea is dont use 702 because it is too important. If you want a standalone bill, you are in the majority. You can take it up anytime you want. And the speaker can schedule it to the house floor any time you want. It doesnt have to be with this program. And you know the i. C. Is not in favor of this language in the bill, you know that, we know that. And yet, you are insisting on it for political reason unrelated to 702, with that, mr. Chairman, i yield to my colleague, mr. Heins. People watching this debate inaccuratee at conclusions, which is there is a debate to be had over unmasking. I said that in my original statement. I looked at every single unmasking and im looking forward to the meeting with mr. Turner and i have been on every single hearing on this issue. There is a debate to be had, but this is not the vehicle and not the vehicle because the number of hearings we have had on unmasking is zero. The number of meetings we have had in a bipartisan way on unmasking is zero. The number of presentations that we have made to the American Public on this issue is zero. We have lots of class tied lots of classified information. We have a difference of opinion, if we were responsible, we would come together and try to resolve this difference of opinion and then we would share our conclusions with the people who sent us here. So, no, this is not the vehicle. It is an important issue. You see the debate. Lets do this right. Lets not jam it through. With that, i yield bark to the Ranking Member. I yield back to the Ranking Member. Mr. Nunes just for the record, this does not only the unmasking revision, it covers 702, it all of isaac. They occur all across fisa. To try bifurcate is quite the interesting point since we put in other provisions that have i would say less to do to 702 into to do with 702 into this bill like other provisions, is the gentleman wanting to pull some of those out also . Would the gentleman yield . Are yield. I yield. We had bipartisan agreement on that. We dont have mr. Nunes you cant make the argument that one thing applies to 702 because you want it to , but something our side once in, when it actually does mr. Schiff mr. Chairman, my point is, since this isnt a problem with 702 and no bipartisan agreement on it, why insert it and bring the bill down on something that does not relate to 702 . Mr. Nunes the bill is not going to go down. Mr. Stewart is recognized. Mr. Stewart this is interesting this is an open hearing. There is something apparent, and that is that our democratic colleagues feel badly about something that i feel badly about as well and one of the things i most appreciated about this committee was that it was bipartisan. And i look across the aisle and some of you i have traveled with and i consider you friends, it was bipartisan while we had a democratic president. And now its not bipartisan. And what changed . What changed was was on november 20. And i would argue the first week of november. Everything changed. And suddenly this committee was not bipartisan. Because we had a republican nominee or republican president. And you are exactly right. This committee has changed. Because we have a republican president now. And some of the things that i have heard some of you that i respected and some of the accusations that you have made against private citizens and innuendo and the cloud you put over people was laughable and over people with laughable evidence, and then and come complain about being bipartisan. The Ranking Member asked for evidence. I will give you evidence right now. 300 times, more than 300 times, the ambassador of the United Nations requested unmasking, which is astronomically higher than anything we saw before that. It is higher than National Security adviser rice, higher than the director of c. I. A. Brennan, much, much higher. They had 70. She had hundreds and hundreds. And are you going to say to the American People that thats ok . A political appointee in a political and a powerful position takes american citizens, who are not under investigation, they are private citizen. They have been accused of no wrongdoing and this particular appointee demands those citizens identities be not only unmasked, but in too many cases, their identities were released to the press and you think thats ok. And you are going to tell the American People we are ok with that. If you are going to make that political argument, good luck with that. The American People demand and expect and they deserve their identity and their privacy to be protected. Thats the only thing we are trying to do here and if you think thats partisan, i dont know what to say to you, because it seems to me thats something that republicans and democrats could gee on. If you are not under investigation, you deserve and have a right to privacy. And if you would vote against this bill because you want to go to the American People and say we dont want to assure you of that or make it harder for you to have that privacy, once again, good luck with that, because i think its a nutty political argument to make. With that, i yield back. Mr. Nunes the gentleman yields back. Any member wish to be heard before we offer amendments . Move on to amendments. Mr. Carson. Mr. Carson thank you, chairman. Thank you Ranking Member as well. Since becoming a member of this committee, i have seen exactly why our overseas programs are critically important. We need to target and track individuals who we have reason to suspect are plotting against the United States. My time on this committee has illustrated clearly how valuable it is to quickly collect, store and analyze intel on overseas suspects. It has and will continue to save lives. So i support section 702 and believe strongly it should be reauthorized before it expires later this year. All of that being said, i have concerns that this bill has not gone far enough to narrow the authorities in section 702 of fisa. We need to address many of the Civil Liberties concerns raised since our last authorization of 702. We should be stronger about collections and ensure that the n. S. A. Can only turn this collection back with the approval of congress. There is enough ambiguity about collection that the decision to turn back on on needs to be heavily debated. The bill lacks a strict warrant requirement in order for the f. B. I. To utilize. Im aware that each and every year the program is approved it must be found consistent with the Fourth Amendment by the attorney general and director of national intelligence, which it has already met. However, having worn a Law Enforcement uniform, the way we are able to gather evidence is critically important. There are additional protections which we should implement in this program when we are dealing with the information of u. S. Persons. Now to be clear, not soft on terrorism. I believe that robust intelligence collection is critical to our National Security and that our intel officials need all possible tools to do their jobs well. But sitting on this committee has shown me we collectively could address these provisions. We could and should protect the Fourth Amendment rights of americans in a stronger and more forceful way. As the bill is currently drafted and with the politically motivated unmasking language, i oppose this bill. I hope to work with our colleagues on the house judiciary to reauthorize and reform this authority in a thoughtful way before it expires. Thank you, i yield back. Think you, mr. Carson. Mr. Gowdy. Mr. Gowdy think you, mr. Chairman. Thank you, mr. Chairman. I have worked for the better part of the last nine months with my friend connecticut is always prepared. He is thorough, he is every bit as effective as a questioner but i would tell my friend from connecticut, there were republicans who told President Trump that he was wrong when he accused president obama of wiretapping trump tower. There were republicans who said contemporaneous with the claim. I would ask my friend connecticut i would ask my friend from connecticut, no matter how heated the political debate may get, dont ever lose sight of that fairness and dont lump everyone together. There were republicans who said there is no evidence to support that, and if there is, produce it immediately. To my friend from california, i would say, you are correct, you are correct. We have spent the better part of the last nine months looking at issues unrelated with this precise reauthorization. My friend from california is also experienced and bright enough to know that if the problems can manifest themselves in one surveillance program, they can certainly manifest themselves in another because its the same techniques, its the same principles, its the same players. So why would we wait until similar problems manifest themselves . Why not fix it before it happens . The issues, the word illegal was used in connection with unmasking. There is no illegal unmaskings. They may violate policy or be improper. Its not against the law to do it. But we have been in the room, all three of us have been in the room when principles were pitbulls with a most precisely the same job description, had wildly disparity unmasking numbers. That doesnt mean a crime was committed. It doesnt even mean the motive was nefarious. It means there are different policies and paradigms being applied to the request to unmasked. What was most troubling to me, in some instances, the principal himself or herself was not even aware that the unmasking request had been made. Thats not what we want. If we are going to trust a National Security adviser, were going to trust an attorney general with the power to unmask a fellow citizens name, make sure it is the principal doing it. We were all there and surprised by the testimony. My question to my friends would be this, why wait until similar problems manifest themselves . This president , unless he is going to mirror Grover Cleveland is never going to go back to another transition. Unless we have another nonsuccessive presidency, he isnt going to go back to transition. This has nothing to do with President Trump. He is not going to go back through it. It has to do with the next democrat administration, the next republican one. It wasnt 10 months ago we sat in this room with admiral rogers and director comey and put them on notice that this agreement that we have between government and the American People, we are going to empower you but you have to be good stewards and we put them on notice there were issues. And here we are in december, eight months later, discussing those very issues and if they have taken steps to resolve them, those steps have been lost on me. It is our responsibility to do it, and i will yield to my friend from california. But what i would ask him is why would we wait until similar issues manifest themselves in this program . Mr. Schiff why did you wait . You are in the majority and you could have introduced an unmasking bill. You could have taken it up at anytime. Why wait until this program is about to sunset and jam it in the bill if you think this is such a good and important idea . I will tell you the answer, because this is a political messaging tool, that if it were in a standalone bill would not get in bipartisan support. By putting it in a must pass program mr. Gowdy this is my first time on hipse. You are welcome to query my colleagues why they havent done it. This is my first opportunity to do it. Im not a johnny come lately. I was talking to comey and rogers. So you can query my colleagues, but this is the first time i have been through a reauthorization on this program. Mr. Schiff im not questioning my colleagues good faith. I am just saying, if this was as pressing an issue, there was nothing preventing them from over the last six months from introducing a bill. But putting it in a mustpassed program, the effort is to shoehorn bipartisan support and mr. Nunes time has expired. Anybody wish to be heard over here before we get to amendments . Ms. Speier i must say i really value every member of this committee. And i do think we are all people of goodwill. And i think this dialogue we are having right now would be really constructive if we could talk about it separate from 702, because mr. Gowdy is making some good points. There are many things that i think we could come to an agreement on, but i do worry that separate and distinct from that, we have not fully dealt with this measure in a manner that is consistent with what the American People would want. Since 2012, there have been a significant number of americans that have been improperly swept up in surveillance activities that the law says must not target americans, and this information is retained for years. This improperly obtained information has been used in court against americans charged with crimes that have nothing to do with National Security. With no warrants and without required notification to the defense. Leaving aside the unmasking language, civil liberty groups have assessed that the socalled fixes in this bill would be worse than no fixes at all. There is no reason for this to be the case. There have been numerous fisa reauthorization bills introduced in both chambers of congress which contain elements with merit which should receive debate on the floor. This is far too serious of a matter to ram renewal on a ridiculously short time line. This bill was shared with my office less than 24 hours ago, and here we are marking up legislation that is incredibly profound constitutional implications for all americans and business implications. My concerns are shared widely by both sides of the aisle and we and there is no reason he cant Work Together to solve these problems. We could be sitting here debating the precarious balance between security and Civil Liberties and the best path forward but instead the majority , has decided to do otherwise. Waiting until the authorities are about to expire and jamming this bill through committee is a very definition of undemocratic and disrespectful to all americans and the constitution. I do believe section 702 authorities are critical to our National Security and there is a true balance to be struck here. We are all here because we love our country and protect it from external National Security security threats and internal weakening of our constitution protections. This bill fails to balance those concerns. I must oppose it. I yield the rest of my time to mr. Himes. Mr. Himes i just want to honor congressman gowdys observations. I agree with them wholeheartedly. Hes right. There have been republicans who have taken risks to acknowledge what you said about the tweet. And this is not fundamentally i think a partisan thing and shouldnt be a partisan thing and i want to resure mr. Rooney that although im unhappy with the process that has led us here today, i think the personal relationships on this committee are important. I want to distill the issue down to two points, though. Number one and these are unarguable. We all know what we do and there are certain issues that are political dynamite. Unmasking is one of them. Benghazi is one of them, the possibility of collusion is one of them. And anytime one of them gets put out there, fox does what it does, we try our best to be stayed and careful, but they are political dynamite, we know that. My problem is we know that and we are moving forward on a change to United States code on an issue that we all know is political dynamite without educating the American People one bit. Look, im open minded. I have seen as much of the evidence as anybody up here. Im not close minded to the possibility there are improper maskings. Improperare unmaskings. We havent had the conversation or that hearing publicly or privately. And we have disagreements. If we are disagreeing, how are we going to reduce the temperature on this issue of political dynamite for the American People. My plea is not republicans be better, but we know this issue is political dynamite. Lets deal with it and deal with it in a way that does justice for the American People. I yield back. Mr. Nunes mr. Wenstrup. Mr. Wenstrup we all know that the 702 tool is subject to unmasking. And if this sworn intelligence and if this foreign intelligence tool has the potential to be abused, i feel its up to us to protect that and to provide oversight. And in some ways stating that you want to restrict the oversight, i think it tells the American People that maybe we shouldnt be trusted. Why would we want to restrict our oversight as representatives of the people over a tool that we are supposed to have oversight on . Lets not wait any longer. Why wait any longer . Lets let the American People know we intend to make sure they are protected and doing things right. Its just one more opportunity for us on a very Important Committee to do what they used to say on superman, fight for truth, justice and the american way. And i yield back. Mr. Nunes anyone else want to be heard . Mr. Swalwell. Mr. Swalwell as we debate this here today, our enemies are toiling away abroad plotting to carry out what could be the next attack against our allies or god forbid here in the United States. And our constituents at home are counting on us to do all we can to ensure that as we seek to prevent the next attack, understand the next attack, thwart the next attack that we also respect their Civil Liberties. And what a message it would send to them if this committee could produce a bipartisan piece of legislation. And i think you have heard today theres a commitment from all of the democrats that if the unmasking part of this legislation is taken out, you will have a unanimous 702 reauthorization that would show our enemies a resolve to understand what theyre doing to fight it and the American People a resolve to respect their Civil Liberties. And their godgiven right to privacy. I implore my colleagues across the aisle, hold the unmasking piece. Lets have a conversation about it. Mr. Schiff, in public and in private, has pleaded for us to just sit down in an informal manner and talk about the russia investigation, to talk about the unmasking concerns, and its fallen on deaf ears. The invitation hasnt been taken up. So much can be accomplished if we talk informally. Mr. Stewart mentioned the foreign travel we have done and gone to some of the roughest places in the world and tightest bonds among us have been made. We can do that again, but lets informally meet and address these concerns and lets have a hearing on improper unmasking and if there is a standalone bill to address the concerns that have been brought up, i think we could find bipartisan support to that. But to our enemies and the people at home who are counting on us to produce a bipartisan bill today, they arent going to get that. They are going to get a bipartisan bill that addresses claims that have not yet been proven. And its going to be just one more setback that we seem ironically that started back on march 20 in this room which is the day the wheels came off the bipartisan spirit that this committee has always shown. I hope my colleagues will pull this part of the legislation and allow us to show the American People we are united in fighting the threats that we face and protecting the Civil Liberties we depend upon. I yield back. Mr. Nunes mr. Turner. Mr. Turner im going to speak briefly. The partisan tone you are hearing is the partisan iaracter racing of this bill cannot the democrats on this committee, there is not one partisan word on this bill. There is no more donald trump, Obama Administration, trump tower. If you read this bill, which is the only reason i ask for time is to make the clarity of the issue but we are debating, it is an issue merely of oversight. There is no prohibition included in this bill. There is no restriction included in this bill. There is an issue of oversight. Open government and a responsibility and role of oversight is essential to the functions of this committee. When you argue against these provisions, you are arguing against oversight. When you make it partisan, you make it partisan. There is not one word in this bill that is partisan. It applies to democrats, republicans, and it applies to the application of oversight. The obligation of oversight. It is protecting constitutional rights. You cant have something more important than that. To take it down to trump tower when the word doesnt exist in this bill is just absolutely to cast aside our obligations. And then when you turn to members of this committee and personally attack them, you are the ones who are destroying the bipartisan aspects. Now there hasnt been one person on this side who has pointed one finger over there except to respond to the attack of partisanship. Lets get back to our job. Read the bill. Look at its oversight provisions and understand that it protects americans and would protect the operations of our government and it would strengthen the functions of this committee. I yield back. Mr. Nunes mr. Castro. Mr. Castro regarding this bill, i have concerns about the privacy issue, about the inclusion of the unmasking language and about the short time frame in which we had to consider this legislation. So im going to vote no. I yield back. Mr. Nunes any other person wish any of the republicans wish to be heard before we get to amendments . Mr. Heck. Mr. Heck thank you, mr. Chairman and thanks for having this open Committee Hearing coming up out of the scif is a delightful change. They say sunshine is the best disinfectant. We are getting a bit of a ray of sunshine here today and add my voice of appreciation to the staff on both sides. I know there was a fierce runup to today and it wasnt for failure of a lot of effort on a lot of peoples parts. Im going to vote no today but not for most of the reasons that have been expressed today. People have suggested that they are going to vote no because of the process and the fairly short time line, 36 hours to examine this bill. I share that concern, as a matter of fact. I think there are questions that we have not had time to actually explore and fully understand, such as the expansion of the scope of collection to include civilian groups not associated with terrorist organizations or state actors that is found in section 102. Thats new language and expansive, and i dont understand who it is aimed at and is it appropriately scoped. I dont understand how it interacts with the e. U. Privacy shield. New questions kept popping up about this yesterday and even into the night. I also dont think we had enough time to understand how this bill defines malicious cyber activities. It gives a different definition than was included in the bill that was introduced two weeks ago. The chair was a sponsor and i was a cosponsor and not sure why these differ and how that interrelationship might be of importance or not. But at the end of the day these are not the reasons im voting no. They are concerns. I share the concerns there has been a devolution of bipartisanship here and fully on display here today. I dont think we are actually moving the chains down the field by accusing one another of partisanship in any way, but again thats not the reason im voting no. There have been concerns expressed here today about inclusion of the unmasking part. I think for the first time in my 11 months of grateful service on this committee, i must disagree with mr. Swalwell. You could take this out and i would still vote no, because i have other concerns as a matter of fact. I think the questions about unmasking are fair and that we need to explore some of this as we go forward. Now im voting no because i believe that this bill sets up a false choice between whether or not we could be secure and whether or not we can protect our rights to privacy, especially under the Fourth Amendment. Benjamin franklin quipped and im amazed he hasnt been quoted today, that those who trade security for privacy deserve neither. I find the weight of this bill trades off privacy for security. I believe that is a false choice, because i believe we can have both. We have the issue of about collection, which was never envisioned by this committee and was never specifically authorized. The text of this bill implicitly approves about collection. And i find that unacceptable without continuing work on our part to address that collection in a clear way that leaves no ambiguity for what can and cannot be collected about us. That is the Fourth Amendment to protection and right to privacy that i think is not upheld sufficiently in this legislation. We have the issue of u. S. Persons queries. This does not close the door on u. S. Persons queries but merely oils the hinges. But we do have constitutional rights. We do include among them the Fourth Amendment to be secure in our houses and papers and effects and we need to close the back door search loophole. At the end of the day, im voting no not because of the process or time line or the lack of bipartisanship or the inappropriate inclusion, in my humble opinion of the unmasking provision in the 702, im voting no because i do not think we have struck the right balance and secured both our privacy and our security, and i believe we can achieve both. But not in this legislation. And with that, i yield back. Thank you, mr. Chairman. Mr. Nunes we are ready to start the amendment process. I have an amendment. The clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number one offered by mr. Nunes of california. Mr. Nunes without objection, the amendment will be considered as read. Can you disperse the amendment . Everyone should have. Tab two. The amendment and the nature of a substitute, a copy of which is in the binder before you incorporates the changes made since the bill was introduced. Most of the changes are minor and technical in nature. And have been signed off on by the d. N. I. I appreciate their quick turnaround on that. I want to point out that in this amendment, we have three bipartisan provisions, all of which ironically are not directly related to 702, but we felt it was important to listen to our friends on the other side of the aisle and incorporate these into the bill. The first is a requirement that the department of justice brief the congressional judiciary and Intelligence Committees on their derived from and used in fisa. The director of intelligence has to outline to Congress Current and future challenges of foreign intelligence activities under fisa and third provision put it in is the whistleblower protections for contractors. Do any members wish to be heard on this amendment . Seeing none, no further members wish to be heard, the previous question is ordered. The question is on the amendment. Those in favor say aye. Those opposed, no. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The amendment is adopted. Do any members wish to be heard recognized for an amendment . Mr. Schiff has an amendment at the desk. The clerk will designate the amendment. The clerk amendment number two offered by mr. Schiff of california. Mr. Nunes without objection, the amendment shall be considered as read. I now recognize mr. Schiff to speak on his amendment. Mr. Schiff this amendment is in the nature of the substitute to the managers amendment. It is the text of the bill without the unmasking provisions. And i would offer this as a lastditch effort to see if there is some accommodation to reach to keep this process going forward. There are a couple of options we have here. We can have a Party Line Vote today and when i said the bill would go nowhere, that is where it will go. It will pass out of the committee but wont go beyond that. We can do a couple things. We can adopt this amendment in the nature of a substitute and at the same time, we take up this bill on the floor and take up a standalone bill on unmasking and give members the ability to vote yes or no and give us the ability to vote yes on the reauthorization of 702. In which case the work of the committee would be likely to go forward. The other alternative which we would offer to my colleagues but my colleagues may not be aware of the offer, we dont think unmasking language belongs in this bill, but we did express a willingness to adopt the unmasking language at the judiciary committee. We are still willing to do that, if the majority is. That would maintain the bipartisan character of the bill, and if theres interest in exploring that, we can recess briefly and take that up as an amendment. So i do want to make sure all the members are aware we have offered that as a way of compromise and see if there is any interest in that, and if there is, i would be happy to yield to any of my colleagues. Mr. Nunes is the gentleman yielding back . Mr. Schiff i was seeing if my colleagues would like to adopt the judiciary language as a compromise and might move forward and seeing none, in that case, i will offer this amendment in the nature of a substitute, which would preserve the bipartisan work product of the committee and give us a chance of having a role in the final shape of this legislation. Otherwise, i think we are going to abdicate to the senate. H that, i would urge and urge an aye vote. Mr. Nunes the gentlemans time has expired. Mr. Conaway . Mr. Conaway if i understand the gentlemans amendment he would strike section 207 of the amendment which puts in section 512 to the underlying base document, which entitled procedures of nonpublicly available information concerning u. S. Persons. The base of this section gives americans protections identity , protections and sets up the requirements by which someone within the administration has to go through the hoop in order to unmask a u. S. Citizens name to be used within the Intelligence Committee. As you look, the originating element is of the entity. Each covered request or document, given a name and title, person asking for the request, reasons why, good governance, and sets up the oversight. Emm it, it would strike all of those protections for u. S. Citizens. If we put this in law, those good governments oversight protections would be struck, is that the understanding . Mr. Schiff the nature of the substitute strikes the problematic unmasking language. Conway i will take that as a yes. Today, we have the opportunity to put these in place, and the gentlemans amendment strikes that. For that, i will oppose the amendment. I yield back. Mr. Nunes anyone else wish to be heard on the amendment . Seeing no further members wish to be heard, the question is on the amendment. Those in favor, please say aye. Those opposed, say no. In the opinion of the chair, the nos have it. The amendment is not adopted. Are there any further amendments to the bill . Seeing none, the question is now on the adoption of hr 4478 as amended to the house of representatives. In the opinion of the chair, the ayes have it. The clerk will call the role. [clerk calls role] clerk there are 13 ayes and ei ght nos. Mr. Nunes the will be purporting to the house of representatives. Members will have two days to submit views on the bills considered today. Staff besent that the able to make changes to the bill recorded today subject to the approval of the minority. Objections, so ordered. If there is no further business, without objection, the committee stands adjourned. [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2017] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. Visit ncicap. Org] [inaudible conversations] this weekend, cspans cities city,akes you to kansas missouri. We will explore the literary scene and history of kansas city on saturday at noon eastern. We will view the public library. It was the political machine boss of kansas city, in control from 1925 to 1939. A political machine being tied otherrganized crime and activities, taking bribes and kickbacks, and using influence to make sure that