Wyden Calls for Republicans To Put Real Surveillance Reform On the Table; Pulte Shows that No Administration Should be Given Warrantless Domestic Spying Powers

Wyden Calls for Republicans To Put Real Surveillance Reform On the Table; Pulte Shows that No Administration Should be Given Warrantless Domestic Spying Powers

Without Reforms, FISA Section 702 Warrantless Spy Powers Will Be Abused By Pulte and other Trump Officials to Intimidate, Blackmail and Smear Trump's Enemies

Washington, D.C. - U.S. Senator Ron Wyden, D-Ore., called for Republican leaders to negotiate on real reforms to warrantless government surveillance, instead of insisting on repeating their failed effort to extend FISA Section 702 without a single meaningful reform. The Senate voted 47-52 early Friday morning against taking up a FISA extension bill.

"Americans aren't going to stand for law-abiding people being spied on. There's bipartisan agreement in Congress that the status quo isn't good enough to protect Americans' rights against abuse by the government," Wyden said. "Bill Pulte's appointment as acting Director of National Intelligence is a symptom of the larger problem: Warrantless FISA surveillance depends on a handful of government officials to choose not to misuse the most powerful spying apparatus the world has ever seen. Firing Pulte won't solve the real problem. Americans are demanding real protections written into the law, not promises that the next guy will be trustworthy.

"Republican leaders have failed three times this year to pass a long-term extension of warrantless FISA surveillance without a single new meaningful protection. Instead of trying a fourth time, they should put real surveillance reforms on the table."

Wyden has authored bipartisan surveillance reform legislation to reform Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and has spent decades leading the fight against the expansion of unnecessary government surveillance.

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