Since June, the daily headlines have frequently contained dramatic revelations about the executive branch’s radical domestic surveillance programs, which now rival, and possibly exceed, the violations of rights we saw in the 1960s and 1970s. These are not, as President Obama claims, “modest encroachments” on our civil liberties; they are the kind of dragnet surveillance operations that treat every citizen as a suspect. Our Founders wrote our Constitution to help prevent this from happening.
If enforcing authorities can investigate each and every person and keep looking until they find something amiss it turns the presumption of innocence upside down and creates a less secure society. Two presidents and successive Congresses—with the acquiescence of the courts—have undermined those protections by passing laws that have I vehemently opposed and am committed to overturning.Soon, I will introduce legislation that would repeal the laws that brought us our current ‘surveillance state’: the Patriot Act and the FISA Amendments Act. My bill would restore the probable cause-based warrant requirement for any surveillance against an American citizen. And it would, for the first time, provide genuine legal protections for national security whistleblowers.
If we hope to restore and preserve the republic that Alexander Hamilton, Patrick Henry, and other founders risked their lives to create, we must end the industrial-scale surveillance and perpetual war mentality that has been foisted on the American people in the name of “national security.” You can read a recent Op-Ed I wrote about this important issue here.
Getting the Data Right
Last week, I joined Senator Menendez in applauding the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) for releasing updated “work maps” for Middlesex County. The new maps will reduce the amount of acreage designated in high-flooding risk V-zones by approximately 80 percent. This will ensure that Middlesex County residents will no longer be subject to higher insurance rates based on faulty data.
Updated flood maps are still needed for a number of New Jersey counties and I will continue to press FEMA to expedite their release. Additionally, as we continue to rebuild from Hurricane Sandy, we must provide the resources necessary to the Army Corps of Engineers for flood mitigation projects that will provide New Jersey residents with the certainty they need in preparing for future floods.
Unfortunately, this week the House of Representatives approved a spending bill that underfunds the Army Corps, which has a current backlog of projects totaling over $3 billion. The bill also would gut our nation’s investment in clean energy technologies, including a cut of 81 percent to the Department of Energy advanced research projects (ARPA-E), which are already helping reduce our dependence on fossil fuels.
A Front Row Seat
I am looking for both high school and college students who are interested in unpaid internship positions in my office. An internship provides a variety of opportunities to participate in the daily operations of my Congressional office, either in Washington DC or my District Office in West Windsor, New Jersey. Interns are generally juniors in high school or older. In some cases applicants can get credit for their internships from their schools.
The deadline to apply for a fall internship in my office is August 1, 2013. You can learn more about an internship in my office and how to apply on my website here.
Sincerely,
Rush Holt
Member of Congress
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