TODAY: Goodlatte, Conyers, and Judiciary Committee Members to Hold Press Conference on Bill to Reform and Reauthorize FISA Section 702

Washington, D.C.  – House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.), Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas), and additional members of the House Judiciary Committee will hold a press conference on THURSDAY at 9:45AM ET to unveil the USA Liberty Act. This bipartisan bill, which will be introduced later this week, reforms and reauthorizes Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). WHO: House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) Ranking Member John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) Crime Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) Crime Subcommittee Ranking Member Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) Representative John Rutherford (R-Fla.) Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet Subcommittee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) WHAT:  Press Conference WHEN:  Thursday, October 5, 2017 at 9:45 a.m. WHERE:  House Radio-TV Gallery Studio A (HVC 114) RSVP:  Jessica Collins, jessica.collins@mail.house.govBackground: FISA Section 702, which is set to expire on December 31, 2017, targets the communications of non-U.S. persons outside of the United States in order to protect national security. It reportedly contributes to a quarter of all National Security Agency surveillance and has been used on multiple occasions to detect and prevent horrific terrorist plots against our country. Although Congress designed this authority to target non-U.S. persons located outside of the United States, it is clear that Section 702 surveillance programs can and do incidentally collect information about U.S. persons when U.S. persons communicate with the foreign targets of Section 702 surveillance. The program must be reauthorized with reforms to better safeguard Americans’ civil liberties and strengthen national security.