(Breitbart) Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) told Breitbart News in an exclusive interview Tuesday that Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) kowtowing to the intelligence agencies on a controversial surveillance law is a “prime example” of the “D.C. cartel.”
Biggs spoke as the House Rules Committee prepares to review the process by which the House will consider the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act (RISAA), a bill that attempts to reform Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a controversial surveillance law that is aimed at targeting foreign adversaries; however, it often surveils Americans’ private communications.
Johnson once supported a warrant requirement and also voted for an amendment that would bar intelligence and law enforcement agencies from purchasing Americans’ private information, which is viewed by privacy advocates as a run around the Fourth Amendment. Now that Johnson is Speaker, he reportedly supports neither reform in a surveillance reform bill.
Biggs is the sponsor of the Protect Liberty and End Warrantless Surveillance Act, a Section 702 reform bill that advanced through the House Judiciary Committee. Former House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) and Lamar Smith (R-TX) said it is one of the most consequential bills to protect civil liberties in “several generations.”
The Arizona conservative called Johnson’s sudden about-face on privacy reform a “prime example” of the D.C. cartel pressuring leaders to preserve the establishment status quo.
