Scott Fitzgerald

Mr. FITZGERALD

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Chair, I rise in strong support of H.R. 467, the HALT Fentanyl Act. This critical legislation accomplishes a top legislative priority I have been advocating since coming to Congress, which would permanently classify fentanyl-related substances as Schedule I drugs. I'd like to share two moving stories of constituents from my district taken from their families too soon. Archie Badura, of Oconomowoc, tragically passed away at the age of 19, due to an accidental overdose in 2014. Since then, his mother, Lauri Badura has dedicated herself to advocate on behalf of those struggling with mental health and substance abuse and started a grassroots organization called, ``Saving Others For Archie'' to help fight the opioid epidemic. Logan Rachwal (Rockwall), of Pewaukee, who was also 19 and a freshman at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, passed away in 2021 from an overdose of three different forms of fentanyl, His parents, Erin and Rick Rachwal, also started an organization, the Love, Logan Foundation, to work to end the stigma surrounding mental health and substance abuse disorder and raise awareness of the dangers of fentanyl and other illicit substances. As a father and grandfather, this issue hits close to home. No parent should have to experience the pain the Badura and Rachwal families have had to endure. We need strong congressional action on fentanyl, and we need the permanent designation of fentanyl-related substances to Schedule I. I want to thank Congressman Griffith for leading this effort alongside Congressman Latta. I strongly urge my colleagues to support this legislation.

Mr. FITZGERALD

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and pass the bill (H.R. 3089) to amend title 18, United States Code, to modify delayed notice requirements, and for other purposes.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members may have 5 legislative days in which to revise and extend their remarks and to include extraneous material on H.R. 3089, the bill now under consideration.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong support of this legislation, H.R. 3089, the NDO Fairness Act. This bill makes much-needed changes to the way law enforcement obtains and utilizes nondisclosure orders, also known as secrecy orders. Before modern advancements in cloud computing, when a law enforcement officer wanted to search someone's office, they would be required to obtain a search warrant based on probable cause, as we are all well aware of. When the officer executed the search, they would notify the individual, who would then have an opportunity to challenge the search in court. However, the era of cloud computing has ushered in a new method of storing sensitive information, whereby, as we know, individuals are replacing file cabinets with digital file folders. Unbeknownst to them, by surrendering this physical office in favor of a digital office, individuals are also surrendering their expectation of privacy. That is because a provision within the Electronic Communications Privacy Act allows law enforcement to access an individual's data by subpoenaing the third-party service provider, such as Microsoft, Google, or Apple, rather than the individual. The law enforcement officer then imposes a secrecy order on the company, preventing them from notifying the individual of the search. The secrecy order is often boilerplate in nature and without a time limit, leading to abuse and overuse. According to Microsoft, between January to June 2022, Federal authorities requested U.S. citizen data from more than 5,500 accounts, an average of 15 requests per day. Over the same time period, Google received more than 21,000 subpoenas for nearly 50,000 accounts. Apple, whose public data is only available through calendar year 2021, received more than 6,600 requests between July and December of that year. In nearly all the cases, a secrecy order was imposed on the company to prevent the disclosure of the search. The NDO Fairness Act would stop this abuse, which has allowed the circumvention of Fourth Amendment protections in favor of simple convenience. This legislation ends indefinite secrecy orders, instead requiring the court to certify that disclosing the search is likely to jeopardize an investigation, result in the destruction of evidence, or endanger the life of an individual. This legislation also imposes a 90-day limit on secrecy orders, with an extension available if and only if the need for secrecy is justified based on the facts and approval by a judge. Finally, this legislation gives the individual subject to searches a chance to be heard and a chance to request a copy of the information that was disclosed. Today's legislation, while not a major overhaul of ECPA, provides us with an opportunity to address the threat to our constitutional freedoms. These changes, I believe, will bring searches of the cloud more closely in line with Fourth Amendment searches. Mr. Speaker, I thank my colleague from New York (Mr. Nadler), the ranking member of the House Judiciary Committee, for co-leading this bill, and I thank the chairman of the committee, Chairman Jordan, for his leadership on this issue. Mr. Speaker, I urge swift passage of the bill, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I have no further speakers, and I am prepared to close. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I reiterate my strong support for this bipartisan bill, H.R. 3089, which will provide much-needed safeguards on the secrecy order process. Mr. Speaker, I hope that all my colleagues will support this bill, I urge its passage, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. FITZGERALD

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I move to suspend the rules and agree to the resolution (H. Res. 363) expressing support for recognizing ``National Police Week,'' as amended.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I ask unanimous consent that all Members have 5 legislative days to revise and extend their remarks and include extraneous material on H. Res. 363, as amended, the bill now under consideration.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I, once again, reiterate my strong support for this bipartisan resolution celebrating National Police Week and law enforcement officers. Mr. Speaker, I urge its passage, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, this week we celebrate National Police Week. In doing so, we honor those officers who were killed in the line of duty. The measure before us, H. Res. 363, recognizes countless law enforcement officers who serve their communities with valor, dignity, and integrity. It also explains the history behind Peace Officers Memorial Day and National Police Week. It also lists the 556 law enforcement officers killed in the line of duty or whose stories were recovered during 2022. Mr. Speaker, I will take this opportunity to individually memorialize the Wisconsin police officers killed in the line of duty in 2023: Officer Peter Jerving, age 37, of the Milwaukee Police Department, died in the line of duty on February 7; Officer Emily Breidenbach, age 32, of the Chetek Police Department, died in the line of duty on April 8; Officer Hunter Scheel, age 23, of the Cameron Police Department, died in the line of duty on April 8; and Deputy Kaitie Leising, age 29, of the St. Croix County Sheriff's Office, died in the line of duty just on May 6. These four brave individuals, and the 556 who went before them in 2022, represent the best of Wisconsin and this country, and we are grateful for their service and their heroic effort in a time of crisis. National Police Week is a solemn reminder of the actions our law enforcement officers take each day to keep our communities safe. I myself am the proud son of a law enforcement officer, as well as the proud father to a former law enforcement officer. I have seen their sacrifice firsthand: the long hours, the nights away from family, and the missed holidays. They do it over and over again without complaint because it is the job and because it keeps our community safe. In recent years, we have seen an increase in the number of ambush- style and targeted attacks on law enforcement officers. These senseless acts of violence are reprehensible, and they must stop. Today, I hope that the House speaks with one voice in support of law enforcement and to the families of the officers who have fallen. I thank the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Guest) for introducing this important resolution of which I am a proud cosponsor. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to swiftly pass this resolution to honor our fallen law enforcement officers and celebrate those still wearing the uniform. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I yield 5 minutes to the gentleman from Mississippi (Mr. Guest), who is the sponsor of the resolution.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I inform the Speaker that I have no further speakers, and I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, on that I demand the yeas and nays.

Mr. FITZGERALD

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I thank Chairman Jordan, Chairman Green, and Chairman McCaul for their leadership and contributions to the bill that we see before us today. Mr. Speaker, I will comment briefly on my experience and what I saw at the border at the invitation of members of the Judiciary Committee. I was able to kind of see, I think, two very diverse parts of the border. First and foremost, in McAllen, Texas, where we spent a couple of days and had an opportunity not only to talk to border agents themselves, but also sat through a full presentation by Homeland Security, one of the things that struck me, and I think is very pertinent to what we are discussing today, is every time I asked a border agent or every time I spoke with someone from Homeland Security, I would say: What can we do as Members of Congress? There are a lot of times you go on these trips and there are tours, and you feel like when you are done, it is overwhelming, and you really want to know how we can have an impact. What made an impression on me was every person I spoke to said title 42. I don't think you could find somebody, probably at the times when I was at the border, who could really describe what title 42 meant or what the impact would be. Guess what? Those agents knew. They knew what it meant. They knew it would be an unbelievable unleashing of many different factions of people that were immigrating for any number of reasons across the border, and they knew it was going to overwhelm them. As we stand here today and debate this bill, when you are watching it on TV right now, quite honestly, it is overwhelming. You can see the masses of people that are gathering. Mr. Speaker, I will, once again, thank Chairman Jordan, Chairman Green, and Chairman McCaul for putting all this together.

Mr. FITZGERALD

Mr. FITZGERALD. Madam Chair, I rise today in support of H.R. 5, the Parents Bill of Rights. Our students are the future. They need support, particularly parental support. However, school administrators have decided to undermine this support by keeping parents from getting involved in their own children's education, teaching divisive curriculum, and protecting themselves from accountability. It is abundantly clear that parents want to be involved. In fact, just the other day in Wisconsin, the School District of Waukesha approved a resolution that established parents' rights and transparency. In this resolution, the school board affirms their commitment to parents, protection for students' religious and moral beliefs from discrimination, and keeping controversial issues out of the classroom. There is an innate need for parental involvement in education, which is why I strongly support H.R. 5. In fact, my own bill, the CRT Transparency Act, is included in this legislation. This important bill requires schools to post their curriculums online so that parents can see what their students are being taught. Parents across the nation are seeing violations of their rights and their important role replaced. We must pass H.R. 5 to protect parents' right to be heard and put our children first.

Mr. FITZGERALD

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, S. 4926, the Respect for Child Survivors Act requires the FBI to use multidisciplinary teams when investigating certain crimes involving children. This requirement includes, for example, situations where the interviewed victim is no longer a child, but was the victim of a crime as a child. The multidisciplinary teams would consist of a variety of professionals trained to work with children who had been victims of a crime. The goal of using these multidisciplinary teams is to prevent re-traumatizing victims. S. 4926 also contains provisions related to information-sharing and case review for crimes involving children. These provisions would hopefully ensure that these cases are not forgotten or simply dropped without review. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I simply urge Members to support this legislation, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FITZGERALD

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FITZGERALD

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, each year, an estimated 58,000 pregnant women pass through jails and prisons in the United States. H.R. 6878 would expand on existing programs within the Bureau of Prisons to provide certain health and wellness-related services for pregnant incarcerated women. This legislation will help these women receive necessary medical care, nutrition, and support while in Federal custody. In addition, H.R. 6878 builds upon President Trump's leadership in the First Step Act, which prohibited the use of restraints on pregnant women in Federal custody. H.R. 6878 would prohibit pregnant women in Federal custody from being placed in restrictive housing unless their behavior poses a serious and immediate risk of physical harm. It also would prohibit the use of solitary confinement for pregnant women in their third trimester. The bill also expands data reporting on the health needs of pregnant incarcerated women and requires guidelines for the treatment of incarcerated women during pregnancy, labor, and postpartum recovery. We all believe that pregnant incarcerated women should be well cared for while they are in Federal custody. However, I would like to note the concern that the bill could require the Bureau of Prisons to provide abortifacients to pregnant inmates. However, the word ``contraception'' is not defined in the bill, and the internal Bureau of Prisons policy does not define ``contraception.'' Because the word ``contraception'' is not defined, this ambiguity leaves open the reasonable interpretation that the term ``contraception'' could include abortifacients or other substances that induce abortion. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I reserve the balance of my time.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I urge my colleagues to support this bill, and I yield back the balance of my time.

Mr. FITZGERALD. Mr. Speaker, I claim the time in opposition to the amendment, although I am not opposed.