The Daily Signal - FISA Amendment to Protect Americans Fails, More Student Loan Bailouts, California Not Tracking Homeless Programs | April 12

Starting point is 00:00:00 I'm Virginia Allen, and this is the Daily Signal Top News for Friday, April 12th. Here are today's headlines. Well, the biggest news out of Capitol Hill today was that the House voted to renew the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The Act is often referred to as FISA and gives the U.S. government the power to gather intelligence on individuals outside the United States. But as my Daily Signal colleague Rob Bluey points out, in recent years, government agencies like the FBI have actually abused FISA to collect information on American citizens. Conservatives and liberals have raised concerns over FISA, and together a group of Republican and Democrat lawmakers introduced a FISA amendment aimed at stopping the government from using FISA to spy on Americans. The amendment was

Starting point is 00:01:03 proposed by three Republicans, including Representative Andy Biggs, as well as three Democrats, including Gerald Nadler. But specifically, that amendment would ban warrantless searches of individuals residing within the United States, but the amendment was not included in the FISA reauthorization today. 126 Republicans and 147 Democrats voted today to renew FISA without that amendment protecting Americans from warrantless searches. The vote on the amendment earlier today was actually tied, 212 to 212, but a tie vote in the House automatically loses.

Starting point is 00:01:42 Representative Andy Biggs, who again was a leading sponsor and advocate for the amendment, spoke out about its failure earlier today. He joined Fox across America to discuss what went wrong. You had a majority of Republicans that voted for a warrant, that wanted a warrant, and you had almost dead even on the Democrat side who also wanted a warrant, but it was kind of Republicans, it would have been good. We needed a few more Democrats, but you know, You know what we really needed?

Starting point is 00:02:14 Republicans. We needed a few more Republicans who actually believe that you shouldn't be surveilled by your federal government without a warrant. That's what we needed. Now, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act heads to the Senate where it's expected to pass. Conservative legal advocate and co-chairman of the Federalist Society, Leonard Leo, made headlines today for refusing to comply with a Senate subpoena. The Democrats on the Senate Judiciary Committee approved a subpoena against Leo as part of the committee's investigation into Supreme Court ethics practices.

Starting point is 00:02:52 The Senate Judiciary Committee launched an investigation into the Supreme Court ethics practices after Justice's Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito were found to have accepted expensive vacations but did not disclose them. Clarence Thomas said that the rules at the time did not require the justices to disclose the trips. ProPublica reports that Leo arranged a 2008 fishing trip that a Leo attended, but the trip was not reported. Leo is also viewed as having played a role in the confirmation of several conservative Supreme Court justices. But Leo says that he's not going to comply with the Senate Judiciary Committee subpoena because it's politically motivated. Leo said he won't be capitulating to the left's dark money effort to silence and cancel political opposition. The student loan bailouts, or rather debt reassignments, keep coming. And the White House announced another $7.4 billion in loan forgiveness today.

Starting point is 00:03:52 Politico reports that about 277,000 student loan borrowers will benefit from Biden's latest action on student loans. Education Undersecretary James Caval said today that the action is helping 277,000 borrowers who have been making payments on their student loans for at least a decade. He added that they have paid what they can afford, and they have earned loan forgiveness for the balance of their loan. Politico also reports that those eligible in this round of student loan forgiveness are borrowers who the Biden administration says have enrolled in Biden's new income-driven repayment plan known as save and other income-driven repayment plans plus the public service loan forgiveness program. As we have covered here on this show before, the Supreme Court last summer struck down Biden's original $400 billion student loan cancellation plan. And then just last week, Biden announced mass student loan cancellation in Madison, Wisconsin.

Starting point is 00:04:54 According to Politico, the Biden administration has canceled about 153 billion in student debt for 4.3 million borrowers. In turn, that debt is transferred to the federal government. California has spent about $24 billion to tackle the homelessness crisis over the past five fiscal years. But the state has not consistently been tracking the effectiveness of these initiatives. So there's no good way to know for sure if that $24 billion has been spent well. This is according to a California state audit. For example, the report found that California's interagency counsel on homelessness stopped tracking

Starting point is 00:05:37 whether the programs were working back in 2021. Now, California GOP leaders are calling for more accountability, and specifically they are placing blame at the feet of California governor, Gavin Newsom. California Assembly Republican leader James Gallagher told Fox News, this is standard Gavin Newsom, make a splashy announcement, waste a bunch of taxpayer money, and completely fail to deliver. And Democrat State Senator Dave Cortez said, per Fox News that the audit highlights the need for improved data and greater transparency at both

Starting point is 00:06:14 the state and local levels. With that, that's going to do it for today's episode. Thanks so much for being with us here on the Daily Signal podcast. On Monday morning, I'm going to be sitting down with Heritage Foundation Senior Legal Fellow Hans von Spakovsky as we discuss Trump's criminal case in New York City. He explains why the case in his words is bogus and what to expect as Trump heads to the court and jury selection begins on Monday. Be sure to catch that conversation. And if you have a little extra time over the weekend, make sure that you take a minute to leave The Daily Signal podcast a five-star rating and review.

Starting point is 00:06:51 We really appreciate hearing your feedback. And be sure to hit that subscribe button so you never miss out on our new shows. Thanks again for being with us. Have a wonderful weekend. We'll see you right back here Monday morning. The Daily Signal podcast is made possible because of listeners like you. Executive producers are Rob Bluey and Kate Trull. Drinko.

Starting point is 00:07:14 Hosts are Virginia Allen, Brian Gottstein, Mary Margaret O'Lehann, and Tyler O'Neill. Sound designed by Lauren Evans, Mark Geiney, and John Pop. To learn more or support our work, please visit DailySignal.com.

The Daily Signal - FISA Amendment to Protect Americans Fails, More Student Loan Bailouts, California Not Tracking Homeless Programs | April 12

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