When Thomas Massie EXPLODES Over FBI Surveillance During Heated House Clash

Gentleman reserves . Gentleman of Kentucky is recognized . Mr. Speaker, I rise in opposition to this clean reauthorization of FISA , and in particular to this short-term reauthorization of FISA . A short-term infringement of the Constitution is still an infringement of the Constitution . How long has the Senate had to act on this? Is this an emergency ? Is this something we haven't known about ? No, I appreciate the work of my dear colleague and chairman of our committee, Mr. Jordan , on this issue for so many years of trying to get warrants before Americans are spied upon . And in fact, my colleague Zoe Lofgren and I on the other side of the aisle over a decade ago were successful in passing an amendment to FISA during the appropriations process that would have prohibited funds to be used to use the FISA program without a warrant . What happened to that amendment ? It died in the Senate . They've had over a decade to work on this . And what does FISA stand for? For eign Intelligence Surveillance . This, when it was originated, was never meant to be used to surveil Americans or to search through databases for their information . It was intended for foreign intelligence . But now it's used on Americans without a warrant . FISA databases have been used to query political activists, journalists , members of Congress, and their staff, random romantic interests of FBI agents . And we're told, "Oh, don't worry. It's not being abused anymore." Well, maybe that's because they changed the definition of a query . And so, when they do use the program anymore and abuse it , it's not a query by their definition, so they don't have to tell you when they have violated the law . They're interpreting it differently . As a matter of fact, there's a secret interpretation of how this law is used by the FBI . So secret that you got to go three floors underground to read about it