{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/-comment-of-senator-patrick-leahy-d-vt-chairman-senate-judiciary-committee-on-the-expiring-authorization-for-the-bulk-records-collection-program-under-section-215-of-fisa", "Comment Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee, On the Expiring Authorization for the Bulk Records Collection Program Under Section 215 of FISA", "2014-12-04", "2014", "2014-12", "Democrat", "House", "VT", "Patrick Leahy", "L000174", "www.leahy.senate.gov", null, null, "legacy", "12.04.14\n\t\t\t  Comment Of Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee, On the Expiring Authorization for the Bulk Records Collection Program Under Section 215 of FISA \n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t[The current FISA court authorization for the government to engage in the bulk collection of phone records under Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act expires on Friday. Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) is the author of the bipartisan USA FREEDOM Act of 2014, which would end this dragnet collection of Americans\u2019 phone records.] \r\n\u00a0\r\n\u201cLast month, Senate Republicans filibustered the USA FREEDOM Act of 2014, which would have ended the NSA\u2019s bulk collection of innocent Americans\u2019 phone records.\u00a0 While I am disappointed that Senate Republicans would not even let us debate the bill, I will continue to fight for strong reforms to government surveillance laws in order to protect the privacy of Vermonters and all Americans.\u00a0 The President can end the NSA\u2019s dragnet collection of Americans\u2019 phone records once and for all by not seeking reauthorization of this program by the FISA Court, and once again, I urge him to do just that.\u00a0 Doing so would not be a substitute for comprehensive surveillance reform legislation \u2013 but it would be an important first step.\u201d\r\n#####\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t Press Contact \n\t\t\t\tPress Contact  David Carle: 202-224-3693\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\n\t  \n\t\n\t\n\t\n  \n\t\n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \n    \t\n    \t\n\t    \t  \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tNext Article\n\t\t    \n\t\t    \n\t\t    \tPrevious Article", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["http://www.leahy.senate.gov/press/-comment-of-senator-patrick-leahy-d-vt-chairman-senate-judiciary-committee-on-the-expiring-authorization-for-the-bulk-records-collection-program-under-section-215-of-fisa"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.3730740174651146, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}