[Congressional Record Volume 169, Number 194 (Monday, November 27, 2023)]
[Senate]
[Pages S5590-S5592]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]



                       Business Before the Senate

  Mr. CORNYN. Mr. President, I confess, it was great to be back home 
last week for Thanksgiving in Texas. Like so many other families, I got 
together with my family and enjoyed that time together. But now we are 
back here in the Nation's Capital with a lot of work to do.
  The end of the year is always a busy time here in Congress, and this 
year is no exception even though the usual appropriations process has 
been kicked over to January 19. Because the majority leader has not 
scheduled earlier votes either on the Israel aid, which was passed by 
the House some weeks ago and has been sitting here in the Senate with 
no action--the majority leader has announced his intention to put a 
$106 billion package benefiting Ukraine, Israel, and also the Indo-
Pacific.
  For the record, I support the efforts to make sure the brave 
Ukrainians can continue to fight and defend their country against the 
invasion of Putin's Russia. I certainly support Israel's right to 
defend itself against Hamas terrorists, a proxy for the No. 1 
international state sponsor of terrorism--Iran. Of course I support our 
efforts to deter President Xi from doing what he said he intends to do, 
which is to take Taiwan one way or the other at a time of his choosing.
  Well, fortunately, we aren't staring down the barrel of a spending 
deadline, so there are no threats of a government shutdown, but we do 
have these very important issues to attend to.
  First, Congress needs to do something that we have done for 62 
consecutive years, and that is, finally pass the National Defense 
Authorization Act.
  Just before Thanksgiving, the Senate finally voted to begin that 
formal conference process to work out the differences between the House 
and the Senate. Our colleagues on both sides of the Capitol are now 
hard at work trying to iron out that agreement so we can pass a strong 
National Defense Authorization Act and send it to the President for his 
signature.
  I started off my remarks talking about the challenges we face and our 
allies face around the world. Nothing would be more disappointing to us 
but more emboldening to our adversaries than our failure to deal with 
this necessary task, which, as I said, we have done for 62 years 
previous.
  The second thing we need to do is to address the supplemental funding 
bill the President has proposed.
  Again, I am a little mystified why the majority leader decided not to 
take up the Israel funding that was passed several weeks ago. I 
understand he doesn't like the pay-for the House has proposed, but I 
think one logical thing to do would be to propose a different pay-for 
and to put it on the Senate floor so we can talk about it, vote on

[[Page S5591]]

it, and get it done, because obviously that situation--although there 
seems to be a temporary lull in the conflict between Hamas and Israel, 
we know that once this temporary period passes, Israel will have no 
choice but to destroy Hamas's ability to commit future terrorist 
attacks.
  Well, as I said, this supplemental funding will include assistance to 
Israel, Ukraine, and the Indo-Pacific, but the part that I think our 
Democratic leadership is in denial about is that the price of getting 
this done will also include major policy changes at the border.
  We have been talking about immigration reform for the entire time I 
have been here in the Senate, and that is all it has been, is talk and 
no action. But my State is on the frontline of the Biden border crisis, 
and it is getting worse by the day because all of the signals that are 
being sent by the administration are that if you make it to the border 
by any means necessary, you are going to be released into the interior 
of the United States. So it is like a big, flashing green light or a 
big welcome mat saying ``Come to the United States.''
  Obviously, we know it has not only been a huge burden on States like 
mine, which has a 1,200-mile common border; we have had people like 
Mayor Adams, the mayor of New York City, saying that unless something 
is done about this, it will destroy New York City. Those are some 
rather stark and jarring words. But it has finally come to the 
attention of even some Democratic leadership that this is something 
that is unsustainable and must be addressed, and we are going to do 
that in the context of these funding bills.
  Well, these are some of the most consequential security challenges we 
are facing today. It is critical that we actually get to work on them 
and not just talk about them, and hopefully that will happen soon. But 
one issue I wanted to highlight was that Congress needs to reauthorize 
perhaps one of the most important laws that no one has ever heard of--
or at least not many people have heard of outside of Washington, DC--
and that is, we need to reauthorize section 702 of the Foreign 
Intelligence Surveillance Act before it expires at the end of the year.
  When you think about America's national security, this probably is 
not the first thing that comes to mind. We typically talk about our 
brave servicemembers and our weapons or air platforms and the 
deterrence that is so important to keep the peace. We think of threats 
all around the world, like the ones I mentioned--those in the Middle 
East, those in Asia, and those in Europe and elsewhere.
  But one of the most important tools available to our national 
security and our national defense is our ability to understand those 
threats and use section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance 
Act.
  This is a unique tool, but it is absolutely essential, according to 
the FBI Director and other members of the intelligence community. And, 
most importantly, it is what it says it is. It is a foreign 
intelligence surveillance tool. In other words, it is only used to gain 
information and intelligence on foreigners--not located here in the 
United States, but those located outside of the United States.
  That is an important distinction, because we don't allow those sorts 
of investigations to take place here in the United States. We have a 
constitutional protection against unreasonable searches and seizures--a 
requirement that if you are going to get a search warrant or you are 
going to get a warrant for somebody's arrest, that you have to go in 
front of an impartial judge and show probable cause why a crime was 
committed by this person.
  That is critical to our authorities to protect ourselves as laid out 
in the Bill of Rights for American citizens but not for foreigners who 
are spying on the United States. That is something entirely different.
  So this is not authority used to target U.S. citizens, whether on 
American soil or elsewhere. It is specifically aimed at foreigners or 
non-Americans overseas who could pose a threat to our national 
security.
  Congress enacted section 702 in 2008 in response to threats by 
various terrorist groups in the wake of 9/11. It tore down some of the 
walls that prevented government Agencies from sharing information among 
themselves, and there is no question that it has been a success.
  When talking about section 702 several years ago, the FBI Director 
said:

       The fact that we have not suffered another 9/11-scale 
     attack is not just luck.

  He noted it is a product of intelligence, teamwork, diligence, and 
``dot-connecting.'' And that is much of what section 702 does: It 
allows collection of the dots so the dots can then be connected to 
facilitate investigations into foreign terrorist threats and other 
actions by foreign adversaries.
  This authority has been vital to detecting potential terrorist 
attacks, but the application reaches far beyond counterterrorism 
missions.
  Earlier this year, Deputy Attorney General Lisa Monaco testified 
before the Senate Judiciary Committee and said that this law allowed 
the United States to uncover what she called ``vitally important'' 
intelligence about the war in Ukraine.
  So it is not just a counterterrorism tool; it has much broader 
application. She told the Judiciary Committee that section 702 has 
helped uncover gruesome atrocities, war crimes, in Ukraine. That 
includes the murder of civilians, the forced relocation of Ukrainian 
children into Russia, and the detention of refugees.
  It is also important at a time when 71,000 Americans died of 
synthetic opioid poisoning last year alone--fentanyl being the most 
common variety--that 702 has helped the United States combat fentanyl 
trafficking here in the United States.
  Fentanyl poisoning is the No. 1 cause of death for Americans between 
the ages of 18 and 45. This is a terrible scourge, and we have got to 
use all the tools in our toolbox, including section 702, to fight it.
  Information acquired because of this authority has informed our 
understanding of China's role, for example, in providing the precursor 
chemicals that are necessary to produce the finished product. And it 
has also helped expose smuggling techniques by the drug cartels that 
smuggle the synthetic opioids, the fentanyl, into the United States 
across--yes--across our southern border.
  So for virtually every national security threat that the United 
States faces, section 702 is an essential asset. Earlier this year, 
Attorney General Merrick Garland and Director of National Intelligence 
Avril Haines sent a letter to Congressional leaders highlighting even 
more examples that show why this authority is so important.
  Information acquired through section 702 has allowed the United 
States to identify multiple foreign ransomware attacks on U.S. critical 
infrastructure, like the Colonial Pipeline ransomware attack a year or 
so ago. It has enabled the United States to stop components for weapons 
of mass destruction from reaching foreign actors, and it has identified 
threats to U.S. troops and thwarted planned terrorist attacks both at 
home and abroad.
  It has helped disrupt our adversary's efforts to recruit spies on 
American soil and send their operatives to the United States.
  Section 702 is a critical tool in America's national security 
toolbox, but its future is uncertain, because unless Congress takes 
action before the end of this year, that authority will expire.
  This is as if we would intentionally blind ourselves to these threats 
that I have described for Congress to fail to take action and 
reauthorize section 702.
  If that happens, it will deprive America's dedicated intelligence 
professionals of the laws that they need, the authorities they need in 
order to keep our country safe.
  Director Wray, I think, said it best when he said that allowing 
section 702 to expire would be ``an act of unilateral disarmament in 
the face of the Chinese Communist Party''--``an act of unilateral 
disarmament in the face of the Chinese Communist Party.''
  Given the threat that China poses to the United States, especially in 
the Indo-Pacific, an unforced error by failing to reauthorize this 
necessary legislation would be the last thing we need. Allowing section 
702 to expire would only benefit our most dangerous and capable 
adversaries. It would embolden China and Russia while hamstringing our 
ability to understand the threats we are facing, until it is too late.
  General Paul Nakasone, who leads both the National Security Agency 
and

[[Page S5592]]

the U.S. Cyber Command, has been very clear about the need to preserve 
section 702.
  Earlier this year, he summed up its importance rather succinctly when 
he said that ``702 saves lives and protects the homeland.''
  That is what we are focused on at the moment when it comes to funding 
the vast national security threats we do face: saving lives and 
protecting the homeland. That is true, I believe, of the war in 
Ukraine. It is in our Nation's national interest, I believe. It is true 
in the war being fought by Israel for its survival in the Middle East. 
It is true for China's saber-rattling in the Indo-Pacific. And it is 
true for the crisis we face at the border.
  Achieving our definition of success in each of these situations will 
require far more than just money. It will require reliable and timely 
information or intelligence, and we simply will not have access to that 
if 702 were to expire.
  It is absolutely imperative that Congress reauthorize section 702 
before the end of the year. And I know we have the time, if we only 
have the will to get it done.
  This is a priority for members on both sides of the aisle and both 
sides of the Capitol. This is not a partisan issue. It is the ultimate 
nonpartisan issue. And we have seen a number of constructive proposals 
to preserve and modernize this authority while enhancing privacy 
protections.
  I understand concerns about abusing these various authorities against 
Americans, something that is illegal, something that should be 
investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
  But just because a few rogue actors have misbehaved is no reason to 
relinquish this necessary tool when it comes to foreign actors who wish 
us ill.
  As Congress continues working to address the range of national 
security threats that our country faces, reauthorizing section 702 must 
be a top priority.
  I yield the floor.
  I suggest the absence of a quorum.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The clerk will call the roll.
  The bill clerk proceeded to call the roll.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. The majority leader.
  Mr. SCHUMER. Madam President, I ask unanimous consent that the order 
for the quorum call be rescinded.
  The ACTING PRESIDENT pro tempore. Without objection, it is so 
ordered.

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