On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and senators and ask them to support and cosponsor the Safeguarding Americans’ Private Records Act, H.R. 5675 and S. 3242. Introduced in the Senate by Senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Steve Daines (R-Mont.) and in the House by Reps. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) and Warren Davidson (R-Ohio), this legislation would reform Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act and other aspects of surveillance under the Foreign Intelligence and Surveillance Act (FISA) in order to protect Americans’ civil liberties and rights to due process and to increase transparency and oversight.

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On behalf of our activist community, I urge you to contact your senators and ask them to oppose the Protecting Against International Terrorism Act, S. 2939. Introduced by Senators Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and Mark Warner (D-Va.), this bill would reauthorize Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act and the “roving wiretap” and “lone wolf” provisions under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) that are each currently set to expire on March 15, 2020. The bill would renew these surveillance authorities through December 15, 2027 while largely ignoring the constitutional issues raised by how they have been used.

Concerning the impeachment of President Trump, James Piereson, a senior fellow of the Manhattan Institute, published in the New Criterion “Break the Wrong Ground.” Piereson writes, “The subject of impeachment has always been accompanied by solemn pronouncements that it must be invoked sparingly, never for narrow partisan or political purposes, and used in extreme cases to preserve the Constitution and the rule of law against a president who has violated his oath of office.” This was also the view of Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz as reported in my FreedomWorks Blog, “The Framers of the Constitution Warned Against a Partisan Impeachment Process” “A partisan impeachment vote is exactly what the Framers feared,” Dershowitz wrote. “Impeachment is an extraordinary tool to be used only when the constitutional criteria are met. These criteria are limited and include only ‘treason, bribery, or other high crimes and misdemeanors.”

The 2018 midterm cycle is already shaping up to be a tough year for Republicans in the House, with many predicting a “blue wave” this fall and speculating that the GOP will lose its majority because of it. However, there is a simple fix for this: a change of party leadership. A choice is looming large in front of the GOP: Who will succeed Speaker Paul Ryan (R-Wis.) as the top House Republican?