House Must Defeat Attempt to Expand Patriot Act’s Reach

Ahead of a vote Monday evening on the Anti-terrorism Information Sharing Is Strength Act (H.R. 5606) in the House of Representatives, FreedomWorks CEO Adam Brandon commented:

“This bill is an affront to the Fourth Amendment, which protects Americans against unreasonable searches and seizures, because of the expansion of the surveillance state it represents. It takes Section 314 of the Patriot Act, which is supposedly aimed at combating terrorist activity, and expands its reach to numerous domestic crimes that have nothing to do with terrorism.”

“Another concerning aspect is the regulatory component of the bill, which would allow the Treasury Department to promulgate regulations to enforce it. This is concerning given that the regulatory state is already out of control. Congress shouldn’t be surrendering even more of its lawmaking authority to unelected bureaucrats. The Treasury Department has already issued regulations that require financial institutions to share information with federal agencies. Because of its expansion of Section 314, more information about financial transactions unrelated to terrorism could be swept up by the federal government.”

“Finally, this bill did not go through committee and no amendments can be offered. A bill with such far-reaching implications must be considered under regular order.”

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