Statement of Administration Policy: H.R. 7888 - Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act

STATEMENT OF ADMINISTRATION POLICY

(House Rules)
(Rep. Lee, R-FL)

The Administration strongly supports H.R. 7888, a bipartisan bill to reauthorize an essential intelligence authority, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ("FISA"), and other FISA provisions before they would expire on April 19, 2024. Expiration of Section 702 authorities would deprive us of insight into precisely the threats Americans expect their government to identify and counter: terrorist threats to the Homeland, fentanyl supply chains bringing deadly drugs into American communities, hostile governments' recruitment of spies in our midst, PRC transnational repression, penetrations of our critical infrastructure, adversaries' attempts to illicitly acquire sensitive dual-use and military commodities and technology, ransomware attacks against major American companies and nonprofits, Russian war crimes, and many more. To protect the American people, we need to maintain this vital collection authority while strengthening its protective guardrails with the most robust set of reforms ever included in legislation to reauthorize Section 702, and H.R. 7888 does that.

For these same reasons, the Administration strongly opposes the amendment proposed by Rep. Biggs to H.R. 7888 that would rebuild a wall around, and thus block our access to, already lawfully collected information in the possession of the U.S. Government. The amendment would prohibit U.S. officials from reviewing critical information that the Intelligence Community has already lawfully collected, with exceptions that are exceedingly narrow and unworkable in practice. Our intelligence, defense, and public safety communities are united: the extensive harms of this proposal simply cannot be mitigated. Therefore, the Administration strongly opposes the amendment.