Speaker Mike Johnson Once Voted to End Data Broker Sharing with Intelligence Agencies, but Has Stripped It from Spy Powers Reform Bill

Representative Mike Johnson, a Republican from Louisiana, speaks during a panel discussion
Elijah Nouvelage/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Sean Moran

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) last year supported a bill that would end intelligence agencies’ ability to purchase Americans’ private information from data brokers, but now he has stripped it from a spy powers reform bill.

Conservatives balked at Speaker Johnson’s decision not to include an amendment to bar data brokers from selling their data to intelligence and law enforcement agencies, in what is considered a run around the Fourth Amendment.

However, as conservative activist organization FreedomWorks noted, then-Vice House Republican Conference Chairman Johnson voted in 2023 to advance H.R. 4639, the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act, out of the House Judiciary Committee.

The bill was widely backed by members of the House Judiciary Committee during the July 2023 markup.

FreedomWorks President Adam Brandon said in a written statement:

House Judiciary Committee Member Mike Johnson has a bone to pick with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson. In a bizarre and surprising about-face, Speaker Mike Johnson is now siding with the Intelligence Community against American citizens’ basic Fourth Amendment rights. It’s during tough times people show their true colors. I am saddened to report we’re now seeing the true and spineless Mike Johnson amid this FISA fight.

The last time Section 702 came through the House, Johnson voted for the strongest possible reforms via the USA RIGHTS Act, and now he has forsaken his past support of the Fourth Amendment. Johnson also voted for the Fourth Amendment Is Not for Sale Act during a July 2023 markup. Now, he’s denying an opportunity to consider that bill as an amendment to legislation to reauthorize Section 702.

A survey commissioned on behalf of FreedomWorks and Demand Progress, a progressive group, found that 80 percent of Americans support closing the data broker loophole, while only 10 percent oppose such a move.

Gun Owners of America have called on Speaker Johnson to pass the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act to protect gun owners’ privacy from “rogue bureaucratic agencies.”

The Second Amendment group wrote, “If @SpeakerJohnson truly supports the Constitution & Bill of Rights, then he needs to fight for reforms to prevent warrantless surveillance & pass the Fourth Amendment Is Not For Sale Act to protect gun owners from rogue bureaucratic agencies!”

Conservatives and progressives have noted how government agencies have purchased private data as a run around the Fourth Amendment.

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) explained how the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) paid $420,000 to purchase location data during the coronavirus pandemic to determine if Americans were abiding by social distancing laws:

U.S. House of Representatives

Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) said that this practice is “outrageous,” “unacceptable,” and “dangerous.” She said the declassified report from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI) found that the data obtained from these practices could lead to “blackmail, stalking, and public shaming.”
C-SPAN

Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH) explained how the data broker loophole undermines Americans’ privacy:

U.S. House of Representatives

Sean Moran is a policy reporter for Breitbart News. Follow him on Twitter @SeanMoran3.

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