WASHINGTON–Today I cast a ‘No’ vote on the very-much-amended USA FREEDOM Act. As an original co-sponsor, our promises for the USA FREEDOM Act were to provide real oversight and scale back the federal government’s massive spying programs.

Unfortunately, the bill presented on the House floor today does not address many of privacy and constitutional concerns expressed by Kansans over the warrantless bulk collection of Americans’ personal information. The Fourth Amendment is a constitutional guarantee to be safeguarded and protected, not ‘worked around’ to justify an unprecedented and secret collection daily of more than a billion personal records of American citizens.

This is not a Republican or Democrat issue, not a red or blue state issue, this is about defending Liberty.  It is my duty to defend our constitutional rights – and this amended bill falls short of meeting this sacred obligation.