Rep. Johnson cosponsors bill to end collection of Americans’ phone records

On Wednesday, Rep. Hank Johnson (GA-04) voted in favor of H.R. 2048, USA FREEDOM Act. This bipartisan bill ends the government’s bulk collection of telephone metadata – replacing it with a new process in which the government must get approval on a case-by-case basis from the FISA Court before asking phone companies for specific call records. Below is Rep. Johnson's statement on the USA FREEDOM Act:

“Today, I voted to support H.R. 2048, the USA FREEDOM Act, which ends the bulk collection of data and enhances civil liberties protections. As an original cosponsor of the legislation, I applaud my colleagues for working together to craft this compromise. While it’s difficult to strike the perfect balance between individual privacy rights versus national security, I believe this bill moves us in the right direction.

“The USA FREEDOM Act would ban domestic bulk collection of records obtained under Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, the FISA pen register authority (a collection authority), and the National Security Letter statutes. It would also increase transparency by requiring FISA to declassify its court opinions, increasing reporting requirements of the federal government and private companies, and provide a panel of legal and technical experts to individuals who go before the FISA court.

“Secrecy in government should be avoided at all costs – otherwise we have no accountability, transparency, or privacy. The people of a free and open society deserve to know what their government is doing to protect them and to let the government know when it is going too far. I am confident this is a step towards increasing transparency and accountability in government and I hope we continue to progress in this area.”

###