Stop Warrantless Surveillance — Ask your Senators to reform FISA

Back in March, the House passed a very weak FISA “reform” bill that extends the administration’s warrantless wiretapping powers until 2023 without introducing significant reforms. After a loud outcry from a coalition of activists across the political spectrum, the Senate punted, and instead approved a short-term extension.

Now the Senate’s about to vote again — and Mitch McConnell is planning on introducing amendments to expand surveillance authorities.

Fortunately, there are also strong amendments to introduce reforms, one from Mike Lee (R-UT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT), another from Steve Daines (R-MT) and Ron Wyden (D-OR), and a third from Rand Paul (R-UT) . The open letter from a coalition of 30 groups including ACLU, CAIR, Defending Rights and Dissent, Demand Progress, EPIC, Freedom Works, the Liberty Alliance, NAACP, Restore the Fourth, and Union of Concerned Scientists goes into detail on why these amendments are important.

So it’s a great time to contact your Senators, and ask them to:

• SUPPORT privacy-protective amendments to H.R. 6172, the USA FREEDOM Reauthorization Act of 2020
• OPPOSE any amendments that would weaken the bill.
• OPPOSE the underlying bill if improvements are not adopted

You can find your Senators’ contact information here. If you prefer to phone, call the US Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224–3121 and they’ll connect you.