WASHINGTON – U.S. Senator Chris Coons (D-Del.), a member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, joined Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Tuesday to introduce an updated version of the bipartisan USA FREEDOM Act, a bill to restore Americans’ privacy rights by ending the government’s dragnet collection of phone records. The bill also requires greater oversight, transparency, and accountability with respect to domestic surveillance authorities.  

“Americans expect and deserve a government that can keep our nation safe without compromising our privacy,” Senator Coons said. “The government’s warrantless surveillance program represents an unacceptable and unjustifiable violation of Americans’ privacy rights that cannot be allowed to continue. The bipartisan USA FREEDOM Act would end the bulk collection of Americans’ phone records and other data and reintroduce transparency and accountability into government surveillance activities. I urge my colleagues in the Senate to join me in passing these important reforms and restoring protections for Americans’ privacy.”

The updated version of the USA FREEDOM Act builds on legislation passed in the House in May, as well as the original legislation cosponsored by Senator Coons in February. The legislation bans bulk collection under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act and other surveillance authorities, requires the government to narrow the scope of a search to a clearly defined “specific selection term,” adds needed transparency and reporting requirements, and provides key reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) Court. In an editorial on Monday, the New York Times wrote “the bill represents a breakthrough in the struggle against the growth of government surveillance power.”

The legislation provides significant reforms of surveillance authorities, while carefully maintaining the role of law enforcement and intelligence agencies and their responsibility to protect national security.

The USA FREEDOM Act of 2014 released today is also cosponsored by Senators Mike Lee (R-Utah), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), Dean Heller (R-Nev.), Al Franken (D-Minn.), Ted Cruz (R-Texas), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Tom Udall (D-N.M.), Martin Heinrich (D-N.M.), Ed Markey (D-Mass.), Mazie Hirono (D-Hawaii), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), and Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.).

An outline of the USA FREEDOM Act of 2014 can be found here, and text of legislation can be found online. A list of supporters of the legislation can also be found online.

In August 2013, Senator Coons cosponsored the FISA Court Reform Act of 2013, which would create an Office of the Special Advocate tasked with advocating in the FISA courts’ closed proceedings for legal interpretations that minimize the scope of intrusion into Americans’ privacy. He also cosponsored the FISA Accountability and Privacy Protection Act of 2013 to require the government to be more transparent in how it publicly reports on its surveillance activities. Read more about them here: http://1.usa.gov/1j8UJ1L