[Congressional Record Volume 164, Number 15 (Monday, January 22, 2018)]
[House]
[Page H611]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                      THE MEMO SHOULD BE RELEASED

  (Mr. POE of Texas asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute.)
  Mr. POE of Texas. Mr. Speaker, Members have been given access to a 
top secret memo by the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence 
regarding the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The memo is 
disturbing.
  Mr. Speaker, for years I have worked to rein in FISA's abuse of 
Americans' constitutional rights. The memo, along with supporting 
evidence from other government agencies, should immediately be 
declassified. Despite the shutdown, the process to release this 
document to the American public and the media has begun.
  There is also an overclassification of documents by government. They 
have nothing to do with national security. The American people and the 
media must see what our government is doing in secret without America's 
knowledge.
  The memo is proof that government cannot be trusted. In the words of 
Thomas Jefferson, ``Educate and inform the whole mass of people. . . . 
They are the only sure reliance for the preservation of our liberty.''
  Mr. Speaker, the memo shows this is not the America our forefathers 
envisioned.
  And that is just the way it is.

                          ____________________