WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Rand Paul (R-KY), Ranking Member of the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, spoke on the Senate floor today to express his opposition to expanding surveillance powers to federal agencies as the Senate considered S. 1631. The legislation would increase federal authority to intercept communications and disrupt drone activity, raising serious concerns for Americans’ privacy, civil liberties, and their Fourth Amendment protections against unwarranted searches and seizures.
You can watch Ranking Member Paul’s remarks HERE or read them as prepared below:
Thank you, Madam President.
I rise today to object to the unanimous consent request for S.1631. At a time when public trust in government is at historic lows, this body must not rush to grant sweeping surveillance powers without proper consideration and debate by the committees of jurisdiction.
Yet that is exactly what this legislation seeks to do—expand federal authority to intercept communications and disrupt drone activity, powers that raise serious concerns for Americans’ privacy, civil liberties, and their Fourth Amendment protections against unwarranted searches and seizures.
We are being told this legislation is urgent, that it is needed to address an imminent drone threat. Yet, the government itself admits no such threat exists.
Federal agencies, including the Department of Homeland Security and the FBI, have stated clearly that there is no current national security risk, no public safety concern, and no unlawful drone activity requiring intervention.
Until that assessment changes, Congress should not rush forward legislation.
Madam President, this pattern is all too familiar. History has shown us time and again how fear and manufactured urgency are used as pretexts to expand government power at the expense of freedom.
After 9/11, Congress passed the Patriot Act in the name of security. Americans were promised that these surveillance powers were necessary and temporary. Instead, they were abused, misused, and weaponized. Innocent Americans had their privacy violated, their data collected, and their rights trampled.
The lesson here is clear: when Congress legislates in haste—without careful scrutiny, without debate, and without accountability—it is the American people who suffer the consequences. And today, we are facing a similar moment.
The bill before us would grant law enforcement significant authority to intercept private electronic communications without consent. For example, the bill would allow the government to conduct dragnet surveillance of the phones of innocent Americans traveling through U.S. airports, as long as the government claims they are doing it to neutralize a drone.
This is not about security—it is about unchecked government overreach. It is about capitalizing on fear and media-driven hysteria to jam through sweeping legislation that violates the civil liberties of the American people.
Congress has a constitutional responsibility to serve as a check on executive power—not as a rubber stamp for it. We owe it to the American people to demand compelling justification, meaningful safeguards, and full transparency before granting any new surveillance authorities.
We are a nation of laws—not fear, not panic, and not manufactured urgency. We do not trade away our freedoms, our privacy, and our constitutional protections for vague promises of security.
Madam President, I object to the unanimous consent request. Thank you.
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