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WASHINGTON – Sens. Mike Lee (R-UT) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the “USA FREEDOM Extension and Amici Curiae Reform Act” Monday, a bill that provides federal law enforcement the tools they need to protect Americans from foreign powers while also better protecting the civil liberties of all Americans. “Our Founding Fathers knew well the danger of a government with the power to snoop through the private communications of law-abiding Americans. They included the Fourth Amendment in the Bill of Rights to limit the government’s ability to spy on its citizens,” Sen. Lee said. “This bill brings much needed common sense reforms to our federal government’s foreign surveillance programs so that Americans’ civil liberties are not violated again.”

There is an old saying that insanity is doing the same thing over and over again, but expecting the same results. And unfortunately, by this standard, Congress has for many years proven to be stark raving mad. The energy bill Congress began to consider this week – which authorizes billions of dollars for dozens of unnecessary energy programs – is just another example.

The FBI improperly spied on the Trump campaign in 2016. We must ensure the bureau can’t do it in 2020 or ever again. Because if the FBI can unfairly target a presidential campaign, imagine what it can do to regular Americans. Here’s how we know what happened. In December, Department of Justice Inspector General Michael Horowitz released a 478-page report detailing over a dozen “serious performance failures” in the FBI's use of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) to intercept the communications of President Trump’s campaign supporters. Horowitz identified “at least 17 significant errors or omissions” in the applications to spy on Trump campaign official, Carter Page.

Abraham Lincoln, in a message to Congress on July 4, 1861, wrote that the leading object of government was “to elevate the condition of men -- to lift artificial weights from all shoulders -- to clear the paths of laudable pursuit for all -- to afford all, an unfettered start, and a fair chance, in the race of life.” It is no coincidence that he gave this message on the anniversary of our nation’s birth.