Press Releases
Washington, D.C. – House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) discusses five things to know about the USA Freedom Act (H.R. 2048) in the video below. This strong, bipartisan legislation ends bulk collection of data, prevents government overreach, strengthens protections for civil liberties, increases government transparency, and keeps Americans safe. It was overwhelmingly approved by the House of Representatives yesterday by a vote of 338-88.
Transcript of Chairman Goodlatte’s remarks:
Washington, D.C. – The Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General today issued a report finding that DHS does not track its uses of prosecutorial discretion in immigration enforcement which may compromise national security and public safety. Prosecutorial discretion is a tool that is meant to be used on an individual basis but has instead been applied to entire categories of unlawful immigrants by the Obama Administration.
Chairman Goodlatte: Since the Supreme Court’s decision in Roe v. Wade, medical knowledge regarding the development of unborn babies and their capacities at various stages of growth has advanced dramatically. To give you a sense of how much technology has advanced, here’s the issue of the New York Times announcing the Roe v. Wade decision in 1973. It contained ads for the latest in advanced technology, including a computer the size of a file cabinet you could rent for $3,000 a month that only had one-thousandth the memory of a modern cell phone, and a basic AM radio that was as big as your hand.
Washington, D.C. – The House of Representatives today approved the Pain-Capable Unborn Child Protection Act (H.R. 36) by a vote of 242-184, which would ban abortions, with limited exceptions, in the United States after 20 weeks post fertilization.
Washington, D.C. – The House of Representatives today approved by a vote of 338-88 the USA Freedom Act (H.R. 2048). This bipartisan bill – introduced by Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Subcommittee Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.), and Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet Subcommittee Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), reforms our nation’s intelligence-gathering programs operated under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
Chairman Goodlatte: As we speak, thousands -- no millions -- of telephone metadata records are flowing into the NSA on a daily basis. Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Despite changes to the NSA bulk telephone metadata program announced by President Obama last year, the bulk collection of the records has not ceased and will not cease unless and until Congress acts to shut it down.
Not even last week’s decision by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals will end this collection. The responsibility falls to us and today we must answer the call and the will of the American people to do just that.