Jesse Watters: Congress is in a data war
Fox News host Jesse Watters gives his take on the US House of Representatives passing a bill that would require TikTok to divest ByteDance or face a nationwide ban by ‘Jesse Watters Primetime’.
A sticking point in Congress’ fight over the renewal of a controversial surveillance tool appears to have been resolved days before the House of Representatives is expected to vote on the issue, but not everyone is happy with the decision.
“Freedom given is rarely regained. It appears that the plan has changed to further infringe the right to privacy – under the pretext of [FISA] reform. Shameful,” Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, wrote on X.
Discussions over renewing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which expires April 19, abruptly erupted in February when Republicans on the House Intelligence Committee abandoned a compromise bill that they had been preparing for months with the House Judiciary Committee.
Multiple sources close to the Intelligence panel told Fox News Digital at the time that the legislative text had been changed to potentially allow the inclusion of a Davidson-led amendment that would have required the federal government to obtain a court order before purchasing citizen data. Americans. of large technology companies. Those sources argued that it was unrelated to Section 702’s intelligence-gathering practices and could have sunk the bill.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Fox News Digital on Tuesday that Davidson’s measure, the Fourth Amendment Not for Sale Act, would instead get a separate vote. on the floor of the House.
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Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to have the House vote on FISA Section 702 this week. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images and Beata Zawrzel/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
“This time it will be its own bill, separate for FISA,” Scalise said. “So that one will go separately.”
“We wanted to get this before the members, before FISA expires, and move it to the Senate,” he added.
It is not immediately clear when that measure will be voted on, but its decoupling from the FISA renewal bill will likely increase the chances of this latest legislation passing the Senate. At the same time, it’s a blow to privacy hawks who had hoped to use the renewal process to put more distance between the federal government and Americans’ data.
In his X post on Monday, Davidson suggested that the House Republican leadership was infringing on Americans’ civil liberties with this measure. Fox News Digital has reached out to his office for further comment.
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House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, pictured, told Fox News Digital that Rep. Warren Davidson’s amendment will be voted on as its own bill. (Al Drago/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
The bill to renew FISA Section 702 is expected to be voted on Thursday, according to a preliminary schedule seen by Fox News Digital.
Section 702 of FISA allows the federal government to surveil foreign nationals abroad who are suspected of terrorist ties without a warrant, even if the person on the other end is American.
Multiple previous audits and reports have shown that the FBI has misused Section 702 in the past to seek data on Americans involved in the Black Lives Matter protests and the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, among others. incidents.
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Rep. Warren Davidson, pictured, criticized House Republican leaders’ decision to decouple their bill from the FISA Section 702 renewal measure.
However, advocates of the surveillance tool, including the intelligence community and its allies, said it is critical to preventing another 9/11-style terrorist attack.
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Disagreements over warrant requirements have continued to drive a wedge between national security hawks and an unusual coalition of hardliners on the left and right who argue that the federal government has abused its access to data. private citizens.
Davidson’s bill also has the support of Rep. Jerry Nadler, D-N.Y., the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, as well as House Progressive Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal, D- Washington.
