[Congressional Record Volume 160, Number 140 (Monday, November 17, 2014)]
[Senate]
[Pages S6021-S6022]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                        PETITIONS AND MEMORIALS

  The following petitions and memorials were laid before the Senate and 
were referred or ordered to lie on the table as indicated:

       POM-345. A resolution adopted by the Legislature of the 
     State of Alaska applying to the United States Congress to 
     call a convention of the states under Article V of the 
     Constitution of the United States to propose amendments to 
     the Constitution of the United States that impose fiscal 
     restraints on the federal government, limit the power and 
     jurisdiction of the federal government, and limit the terms 
     of office of federal government officials; to the Committee 
     on the Judiciary.

                       House Joint Resolution 22

       Whereas the founders of the Constitution of the United 
     States empowered state legislators to be guardians of liberty 
     against future abuses of power by the federal government; and
       Whereas the federal government has created a crushing 
     national debt through improper and imprudent spending; and
       Whereas the federal government has invaded the legitimate 
     roles of the states through the manipulative process of 
     federal mandates, most of which are unfunded; and
       Whereas the federal government has ceased to live under a 
     proper interpretation of the Constitution of the United 
     States; and
       Whereas it is the solemn duty of the states to protect the 
     liberty of their people, particularly for the generations to 
     come, to propose amendments to the Constitution of the United 
     States through a convention of the states under art. V to 
     place clear restraints on these and related abuses of power: 
     Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That under art. V, Constitution of the United 
     States, the Alaska State Legislature respectfully applies to 
     the United States Congress to call a convention of the states 
     for the sole purpose of proposing amendments to the 
     Constitution of the United States that impose fiscal 
     restraints on the federal government, limit the power and 
     jurisdiction of the federal government, and limit the terms 
     of office of federal government officials; and be it further
       Resolved, That this application constitutes a continuing 
     application in accordance with art. V, Constitution of the 
     United States, until at least two-thirds of the legislatures 
     of the several states have applied for a similar convention 
     of the states; and be it further
       Resolved, That the Alaska State Legislature urges the 
     legislatures of the other 49 states to apply to the United 
     States Congress to call a convention of the states.
       Copies of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable 
     Barack Obama, President of the United States; the Honorable 
     Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and 
     President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable John Boehner, 
     Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable 
     Patrick J. Leahy, President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate; 
     the Honorable Nancy Erickson, Secretary of the U.S. Senate; 
     the Honorable Karen L. Haas, Clerk of the U.S. House of 
     Representatives; the Honorable Lisa Murkowski and the 
     Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, and the Honorable Don 
     Young, U.S. Representative, members of the Alaska delegation 
     in Congress; and the presiding officers of the legislatures 
     of each of the other 49 states.
                                  ____

       POM-346. A joint resolution adopted by the Legislature of 
     the State of Alaska opposing the warrantless collection of 
     telephone call data by the National Security Agency; to the 
     Committee on the Judiciary.

                       Senate Joint Resolution 22

       Whereas the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution of the 
     United States provides ``The right of the people to be secure 
     in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against 
     unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, 
     and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, 
     supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing 
     the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be 
     seized''; and
       Whereas the Fifth Amendment to the Constitution of the 
     United States provides ``No person shall . . . be deprived of 
     life, liberty, or property, without due process of law''; and
       Whereas, on December 16, 2013, United States District Court 
     Judge Richard Leon ruled that the National Security Agency's 
     program, bulk collection, and querying of telephone record 
     metadata are likely unconstitutional; and
       Whereas the legislature objects to the dragnet approach to 
     data collection allowed by the Foreign Intelligence 
     Surveillance Court, a court that operates in secret and, 
     under sec. 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act, issues orders that 
     perpetuate the warrantless collection of data of nearly all 
     Americans; and
       Whereas the National Security Agency stores the date and 
     time of calls, their duration, and the participating 
     telephone numbers of the calls of nearly all Americans in a 
     centralized database, which allows National Security Agency 
     analysts to access not only those numbers, but the numbers 
     with which the numbers have been in contact, and, in turn, 
     the numbers in contact with those numbers; and
       Whereas the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board, in 
     its January 2014 report titled ``Report on the Telephone 
     Records Program Conducted under Section 215 of the USA 
     PATRIOT Act and on the Operations of the Foreign Intelligence 
     Surveillance Court,'' questions the legal basis for the 
     National Security Agency's mass telephone call data 
     collection program; and
       Whereas, when telephone call data of Americans is collected 
     by the National Security Agency, that data is not related to 
     specific investigations of the Federal Bureau of 
     Investigation; and
       Whereas orders issued by the Foreign Intelligence 
     Surveillance Court at the request of the federal government 
     require telephone companies to provide new calling records on 
     a daily basis, a mandate not grounded in statute; and
       Whereas sec. 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act is designed to 
     enable the Federal Bureau of Investigation to obtain records 
     in the course of investigations, but the National Security 
     Agency's mass collection of the records is not consistent 
     with that design; and
       Whereas the Electronic Communications Privacy Act of 1986 
     prohibits telephone companies from sharing consumer data with 
     the government except in special circumstances, and the 
     Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board concluded that 
     the National Security Agency's telephone call data collection 
     program may violate the Act; and
       Whereas the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board 
     found that the National Security Agency's telephone call data 
     collection program has not prevented, discovered, or 
     identified terrorist attacks, plots, or suspects that 
     threatened the security of the United States; and
       Whereas the widespread collection of telephone call data of 
     Americans reveals highly sensitive personal information; and
       Whereas the legislature resolutely opposes the continuation 
     of the National Security Agency's warrantless data collection 
     program; and
       Whereas the legislature views the National Security 
     Agency's storage in a central database of the telephone call 
     metadata of all Americans as an unconstitutional practice 
     that should be immediately suspended; and
       Whereas the history of government coercion, persecution, 
     and abuse of personal information and human life in the 
     twentieth

[[Page S6022]]

     century prompts the legislature to seek to protect the 
     liberty of future generations from an oppressive and 
     tyrannical federal government; and
       Whereas the fundamental rights of Americans to speak freely 
     and associate with others are threatened and are likely being 
     diminished by the National Security Agency's mass collection 
     of telephone call data; and
       Whereas the National Security Agency's mass collection of 
     telephone call data may intimidate or chill the freedom of 
     expression of individuals and groups that disagree with 
     certain government policies or result in extreme scrutiny of 
     those persons simply for opposing those policies; and
       Whereas the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court has 
     deviated from its purpose to authorize warrants for 
     electronic surveillance relating only to a specific person, a 
     specific place, or a specific communications account or 
     device; and
       Whereas the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court 
     operates in a secretive manner that prevents the court from 
     hearing public input regarding government requests to conduct 
     surveillance: Now, therefore, be it
       Resolved, That the Alaska State Legislature urges the 
     federal government to end the mass telephone call data 
     collection program conducted under sec. 215 of the USA 
     PATRIOT Act, because of its lack of a statutory foundation 
     and because it raises serious constitutional concerns under 
     the Fourth and Fifth Amendments to the Constitution of the 
     United States; and be it further
       Resolved, That the Alaska State Legislature urges the 
     federal government to eliminate all stored metadata upon 
     ending the mass telephone call data collection program; and 
     be it further
       Resolved, That the Alaska State Legislature urges the 
     United States Congress to authorize the creation of a panel 
     of private sector lawyers to serve as advocates for the 
     public before the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to 
     increase public knowledge and oversight; and be it further
       Resolved, That the Alaska State Legislature urges judges of 
     the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to write opinions 
     in a manner that allows the government to declassify and 
     release the opinions to the public; and be it further
       Resolved, That the Alaska State Legislature urges the 
     Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to work to declassify 
     past opinions and release those opinions to the public; and 
     be it further
       Resolved, That the Alaska State Legislature requests the 
     United States Attorney General and members of the 
     intelligence and judiciary committees of the United States 
     Congress to inform the Alaska State Legislature of the 
     federal government's activities under the Foreign 
     Intelligence Surveillance Act and provide the Alaska State 
     Legislature with copies of reports submitted under the 
     Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act; and be it further
       Resolved, That the Alaska State Legislature urges the 
     Governor to prohibit the use of state personnel and resources 
     to assist the National Security Agency in its collection of 
     mass data on Alaskans without a specific search warrant; and 
     be it further
       Resolved, That the Alaska State Legislature considers the 
     National Security Agency's unilateral collection of the 
     telephone call data of all Americans a violation of statute, 
     an unconstitutional program, and a troubling overreach by the 
     federal government; the Alaska State Legislature has sworn to 
     uphold both the Constitution of the United States and the 
     Constitution of the State of Alaska and will not assist the 
     federal government by facilitating programs that are 
     tyrannical in nature, that subject Americans to unreasonable 
     and unwarranted searches, and that violate the fundamental 
     principle of liberty; let this resolution serve as a notice 
     to this Administration and all future Administrations that 
     Alaskans reject surrendering their liberty in the name of an 
     unconstitutional program.
       Copies of this resolution shall be sent to the Honorable 
     Barack Obama, President of the United States; the Honorable 
     Joseph R. Biden, Jr., Vice-President of the United States and 
     President of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable John Boehner, 
     Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives; the Honorable 
     Harry Reid, Majority Leader of the U.S. Senate; the Honorable 
     Patrick J. Leahy, President pro tempore of the U.S. Senate; 
     the Honorable Dianne Feinstein, Chair, U.S. Senate Select 
     Committee on Intelligence; the Honorable Saxby Chambliss, 
     Vice Chair, U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence; the 
     Honorable Mike Rogers, Chair, U.S. House of Representatives 
     Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; the Honorable C. 
     A. Dutch Ruppersburger, Ranking Member, U.S. House of 
     Representatives Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence; 
     the Honorable Jeh Johnson, United States Secretary of 
     Homeland Security; the Honorable Sean Parnell, Governor of 
     Alaska; General Keith B. Alexander, United States Army, 
     Director, National Security Agency; Richard H. Ledgett, Jr., 
     Deputy Director, National Security Agency; James B. Comey, 
     Director, Federal Bureau of Investigation; and the Honorable 
     Lisa Murkowski and the Honorable Mark Begich, U.S. Senators, 
     and the Honorable Don Young, U.S. Representative, members of 
     the Alaska delegation in Congress.
                                  ____

       POM-347. A resolution adopted by the Legislature of 
     Rockland County, New York, urging that health, safety, and 
     planning concerns be addressed and mitigated in the 
     environmental review and all other review processes before 
     project permissions be granted for Spectra Energy's Algonquin 
     Incremental Market natural gas pipeline, compressor, and 
     metering stations expansion project; to the Committee on 
     Energy and Natural Resources.
                                  ____

       POM-348. A resolution adopted by the Puerto Rico Bar 
     Association requesting that the government of the United 
     States exempt Puerto Rico from the regulations of the Jones 
     Act, also known in Puerto Rico as the Cabotage Act, to allow 
     foreign-flag ships to bring goods to the country, which has 
     previously been done in similar situations with the U.S. 
     Virgin Islands, Alaska, Hawaii, and other jurisdictions of 
     the United States; to the Committee on Commerce, Science, and 
     Transportation.
                                  ____

       POM-349. A resolution adopted by the Puerto Rico Bar 
     Association reaffirming the historical opposition of the 
     Puerto Rico Bar Association to the death penalty and urging 
     such actions as are necessary to implement that opposition; 
     to the Committee on the Judiciary.

                          ____________________