Speaker Emerita Pelosi Floor Speech on the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act

Washington, D.C. – Today, Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi delivered remarks on the Floor of the House of Representatives in support of the Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act. 

Speaker Emerita Pelosi, the longest-serving Member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence in history, highlighted the legislation's reforms to ensure the civil liberties of Americans are respected while enabling the Intelligence Community to gain indispensable insights into the threats to American families.

Watch Speaker Emerita Pelosi's remarks here.

Read Speaker Emerita Pelosi's remarks below:

Ranking Member Jim Himes.  Mr. Chairman, it is my privilege to yield two minutes to the single longest-serving Member of the House Intelligence Committee ever.  A Member who, as my Republican colleagues regularly remind me, whose progressive bona fides are unchallengeable and who came to this institution to fight for civil liberties. 

I yield two minutes to Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi.  

Speaker Emerita Pelosi.  Thank you, Mr. Speaker.  I thank the gentleman for yielding.  I thank him for his great leadership of the Intelligence Committee.  And I thank our Members of the Intelligence Committee for their important work to protect our national security on both sides of the aisle.  Having served there, I know it's a place where we strive for bipartisanship.

Mr. Speaker, as the gentleman indicated, I came to this Committee in the early '90s, and my purpose was to protect the civil liberties as we protected the national security of our country. 

I had two purposes: one, to stop the proliferation of weapons – nuclear weapons, and secondly, was – on par with that – to make sure that we protect the civil liberties.  In the course of that time, I have had – I have voted for legislation that is less than what I would have liked, but advanced the cause.  The gentleman – both the Chair and Ranking Member have put forth a very clear idea about why 702 is important, and I associate myself with their remarks. 

I just want to say this: I went in the early '90s.  I became the Ranking Member, the top Democrat on the Committee.  For twenty years, I was Gang of Four, or Gang of Eight, in terms of receiving intelligence up – until last year, when I stopped being Speaker of the House.  And for that whole time, it's been about: what does this mean to the civil liberties of the American people?   

I had a bill that we brought to the Floor when President Bush was president that addressed some of our FISA concerns.  Didn't go all the way.  This bill does.  And in this legislation, there are scores, scores of provisions that – good, strengthen our case for civil liberties.  Some of them improvements on existing law.  Some of them new, new provisions in the law to protect the civil liberties of the American people. 

So this Biggs Amendment seriously undermines our ability to protect the national security.  And I urge our colleagues to vote against it.  If this – I don't have the time right now, but if Members want to know, I'll tell you how we could have been saved from 9/11 if we didn't have to have the additional warrants. 

With that, I again urge a 'no' vote on Biggs, a 'yes' on the bill, and yield back the balance of my time.