On March 15, the authority for Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act formally expired. This is one of the provisions that spawned the Edward Snowden leaks back in 2013 and drew the American people’s attention to the scope of abuses perpetrated by the intelligence community. Though some reforms have been made, many in Congress still stand by the program despite the revelations.

On behalf of FreedomWorks’ activist community, I urge you to contact your representative and senators ask them to cosponsor the American Healthshare Plans Act, H.R. 6712 and S. 3610, introduced in the House by Rep. John Curtis (R-Utah) and in the Senate by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.). This bill would allow non-employer membership organizations to offer health insurance to individuals, including across state lines, opening up a much-needed alternate path to coverage.

FreedomWorks is proud to announce that our bill of the month for May 2020 is the Verified Innovative Testing in American Laboratories (VITAL) Act, S. 3512. The bill, introduced by Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and cosponsored by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), clarifies that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has no regulatory authority over lab-developed testing procedures, during a public health emergency or at any other time.

It is no secret that limited-government proponents dislike the Federal Reserve, or “the Fed,” and the influence that this central bank wields. It attempts to “play God” in our economy by its control over monetary policy and almost always does far more harm than good. What could not be more secretive currently, though, is the way that the Fed operates. Fortunately, there is significant support in Congress for a bill -- the Federal Reserve Transparency Act -- that would require a Government Accountability Office (GAO) audit of the Fed.

Earlier this week, Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) appeared on ABC’s The View to talk about his new book, The Case Against Socialism. During the interview, Paul remarked that the “[m]ost people [who earn] below $50,000 don’t pay any income tax.” He added that the top 1 percent of income earners pay 40 percent of income taxes.