Floor Statements

I announce that the senator from Washington (Mrs. Murray) is necessarily absent.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

I announce that the Senator from Maryland (Ms. Alsobrooks) is necessarily absent.

I ask for the yeas and nays.

I announce that the Senator from Maryland (Ms. Alsobrooks) is necessarily absent.

I announce that the Senator from Maryland (Ms. Alsobrooks) is necessarily absent.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.

Mr. President, section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, is an important tool for gathering foreign intelligence and keeping America safe, but this authority of the government also serves as a backdoor for warrantless surveillance of Americans right here at home.

The Trump administration, led by Stephen Miller, has asked Congress for a no-strings-attached extension of section 702. There is a growing bipartisan recognition of the need to reform this surveillance tool to protect American privacy and civil liberties.

Section 702 allows the government to collect the private communications of foreigners overseas without a warrant issued by a court. The problem is that millions--potentially billions--of innocent American communications with friends, family members, or coworkers abroad are being swept up in this collection.

Once collected, the government can read Americans' private texts, emails and messages and even listen to phone calls without ever obtaining a warrant from a judge.

To no one's surprise, without court approval for such searches, administrations of both parties have abused section 702 to spy on American families, including the families of protesters, Members of Congress, journalists, and even women on dating apps and rental tenants. We have every reason to believe that such abuses will continue, if not get worse, under the Trump administration as it is using every tool at its disposal to target political enemies and undermine the basic underpinnings of our democracy.

Last year, the Trump administration conducted more than 23,000-- 23,000--warrantless searches of Americans' private phone calls, texts, and emails, and these are just the ones we know about.

Every Member of Congress should also be concerned about the increase in so-called ``sensitive queries'' conducted by the FBI under Kash Patel's leadership. These are warrantless searches of section 702 data that target religious leaders, organizations, politicians, political organizations, and journalists. In 2025, the FBI conducted over three times as many sensitive queries as the Biden administration in 2024. We don't know whom the FBI has targeted using these sensitive queries, but we know under Kash Patel's leadership, the FBI has been all too willing to target political enemies to appease President Trump.

The Trump administration also refuses to release the latest FISA Court ruling on section 702, which found ``deficiencies'' with how the administration is conducting searches on Americans.

Rather than telling the American people what those deficiencies in the program are, the Trump administration is appealing the court's ruling. The American people deserve to see this opinion before their House Members and Senate Members vote on reauthorizing section 702.

Senator Lee is a conservative Republican from Utah. He and I are working together. We have proposed a path forward with the bipartisan SAFE Act, which would reauthorize section 702 for 3 years, while including critical reforms to protect Americans' constitutional right. Our bill would require the government to obtain a judicial warrant before accessing American citizens' texts, emails, or phone calls that the government has collected using section 702.

This would ensure independent, nonpartisan oversight of the government's use of this surveillance approach and stop this never- ending cycle of misuse under 702. Our warrant would protect Americans' privacy without jeopardizing national security.

We have expressly included robust exceptions for legitimate security needs, including for what is known as exigent circumstances, where there is any threat to life and agents have no time to obtain a warrant. That, of course, is the response when we talk about changing this system: You are going to slow it down when we need it the most; there could be an emergency, and we have to move. We wrote expressly in our amendment that exigent circumstances could move forward in a state of emergency.

The SAFE Act would also put an end to the government's practice of buying our personal data from third-party data brokers without a warrant. The Department of Homeland Security has reportedly used this loophole to track protesters in real time under the pretext that they are ``domestic terrorists.''

You remember the two individuals killed in Minneapolis by ICE? One of them was identified on the spot as a domestic terrorist--totally untrue.

If the government wants to spy on Americans, it needs to get a warrant, court approval. It is based on what we know as the Constitution's Fourth Amendment protection. Period.

That is why our amendment--our bipartisan amendment--is supported by conservative Republicans and progressive Democrats alike. The Senate could take up the SAFE Act and vote on it this week, and I hope we do. I believe

there is broad bipartisan support for this bipartisan measure by Senator Lee and myself.

Congress should also address the ill-advised expansion of section 702 that allows its use for surveillance for noncitizens traveling in the United States. This provision may be the reason Stephen Miller is the White House leading advocate for reauthorizing section 702. He reportedly views 702 as ``critical to a variety of Homeland Security missions.'' What could that possibly be? Immigration in the United States, even though this section is expressly focused on foreign intelligence abroad.

If a reauthorization bill reaches the floor of the Senate, I will pursue an amendment to limit the government's ability to use section 702 for President Trump's mass deportation campaign.

Some may argue that there is not enough time to enact reforms before section 702 expires--false. Section 702 surveillance operates under yearlong certifications approved by the FISA Court. Even if section 702 were to expire this week, the law makes it clear, the surveillance may continue until March of next year.

There is no emergency excusing Congress from getting this right. This affects the privacy, potentially, of every American family.

I will vote against any long-term extension of section 702 that gives this administration--or any administration--unfettered access to America's communications without a warrant. I urge my colleagues to do the same.

I ask unanimous consent that the document that I have in my hand be entered in the Record with my statement just given on the floor of the Senate.

Mr. President, I suggest the absence of a quorum.

I announce that the Senator from Virginia (Mr.Warner) is necessarily absent.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the order for the quorum call be rescinded.

Mr. President, today, the city of Chicago is in mourning. On Saturday, Chicago police officer John Bartholomew was fatally shot after taking a robbery suspect to the hospital.

Officer Bartholomew had been on the force for 10 years. In that decade, he became known by his station and his community as someone you could always count on. When it snowed, he was the first one outside to shovel. At the station, officers often heard him singing his lungs out in the locker room.

Officer Bartholomew was a loving father, and a faithful husband to his wife Renee.

Loretta and I offer our deepest condolences to the Bartholomew family.

Officer Bartholomew's partner, a 21-year veteran of the Chicago Police Department, remains in critical condition. We should all pray for his fast and full recovery.

Mr. President, only 12 hours after this awful shooting in Chicago, our Nation watched in horror as a different gunman attacked the White House Correspondents' Dinner. Let's be clear. Whether right or left, political violence has no place in America--none. I am grateful no one was seriously injured at the Hilton.

This attack, however, shows a sobering pattern of escalating political violence. Last year, we witnessed the horrific assassination of Minnesota House speaker emerita Melissa Hortman and her husband Mark, the attempted murder of Minnesota State senator John Hoffman and his wife, and the assassination of Charlie Kirk.

These attacks have a chilling impact on politics. Townhall meetings now are requiring metal detectors. People are wary of open-air events.

Political violence is corrosive to democracy. It is an American crisis and one that is made worse by the growing arsenal of dangerous guns in our country. These weapons flooding our streets make what is already an incredibly difficult job for our Nation's law enforcement and security personnel even more dangerous. Our police are being outgunned by people who are fomenting violence.

For our communities and our law enforcement officers in our country, we have to do more to stop this gun violence. It is a national scourge.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that the text of the bill be printed in the Record.