April 14, 2024 - Washington, D.C. - Congressman Tom McClintock (CA-05) last Friday delivered the following remarks on the House floor.

Mr. Speaker:

I don’t discount the mounting dangers we face from enemies abroad.  But we also cannot discount the dangers we face at home from the very powers this bill would continue.  The FBI abused these powers 278,000 times in a single year and  turned them against American citizens: searching for January 6th and Black Lives Matter rioters, probing political donors and even piercing congressional offices.

John Adams believed that indiscriminate searches by British officials became the first spark of the American revolution.  Having lived under such a tyranny, the Founders protected us with the Fourth Amendment.  Before authorities can search through our records, they have to get a warrant from an independent judge by showing probable cause to suspect we’ve committed a crime.

There are many excellent reforms in this bill that I applaud.  But they largely depend on these agencies policing themselves, and experience warns us that’s just not enough.  Without a warrant requirement, I fear these powers will once again be turned against our fundamental liberties and -- these days -- that scares me as much as a terrorist attack.

Imagine how much safer we would all be if we could station a soldier in every house.  But we have a Third Amendment to protect us against that tyranny just as we have a Fourth Amendment to protect us against the tyranny of indiscriminate searches.

Benjamin Franklin’s warning echoes from his age to ours: “those who can give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.”  Let that not be history’s judgement of us.



Source: Congressman Tom McClintock