A U.S. Congressman from Tennessee had some strong words after he joined 18 of his Republican counterparts in voting against the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) on Wednesday.
“FISA, of course, is what they use to spy, literally, on American citizens,” said Representative Tim Burchett (R-TN-02) in a video posted to his X account. “So what happens, very literally, say you have somebody working on your house, on your roof, what have you, [who is] not an American citizen, and then they contact you on their cell phone and basically because of that [the U.S. government] can follow you or investigate you or what have you, without a search warrant. And when I was told by the State Department that in fact it was problematic to have search warrants on these cases, they obviously have a problem with our Constitution. So, tough day for democracy today folks. And FISA needs to die.”
Only 19 Republicans voted against killing the surveillance program, which was first implemented by fiat by President George W. Bush in the wake of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center and later codified into law.
Joined by Burchett in voting “no” was his colleague from Tennessee, Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN-05).
“FISA matters to Tennessee for the same reason it should matter to every American citizen: the Fourth Amendment of the United States Constitution ensures protections against unreasonable searches and seizures by the federal government,” Ogles told The Tennessee Star Wednesday, adding that House leadership “chose to keep the doors closed and did not allow an open amendment process.”
Former President Trump spoke out against FISA in a post on Truth Social.
“KILL FISA,” he said. “IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS. THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN!!!”
Every House Democrat voted against reauthorizing FISA, and even left-wing groups like the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) have often spoken out against the law.
“Information collected under the law without a warrant can be used to prosecute and imprison people, even for crimes that have nothing to do with national security,” the ACLU says.
The ACLU filed the first lawsuit challenging FISA within hours of its implementation.
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Pete D’Abrosca is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Pete on Twitter/X.
Photo “Tim Burchett” by Tim Burchett.
