Kentucky Senator Rand Paul on Tuesday introduced a dozen amendments to the controversial Cybersecurity Information Sharing Act (CISA), including one that would restrict federal funding for so-called sanctuary cities, one that would allow military service members to carry firearms on military installations, and another that would audit the Federal Reserve.
The Service Members Self Defense Act would allow qualified members of the armed forces to carry concealed firearms on Department of Defense property for defensive purposes.
Paul introduced a similar stand-alone bill in the wake of last month's shooting rampage at two military installations in Chattanooga, Tenn., which left five service members dead. That incident sparked outrage over the Pentagon's long-standing restrictions on U.S. service members arming themselves while at military facilities.
"I find it ridiculous that the brave men and women serving in our armed forces are asked to defend us overseas but cannot protect themselves once they return home. My amendment ensures that our honorable service members are allowed to protect themselves while serving our nation at home," Paul, who is running for president, said in a press statement.
A second amendment introduced on Tuesday would withhold federal funding from sanctuary cities that refuse to comply with federal immigration laws or don't have local laws requiring them to cooperate with or notify federal immigration authorities after they have detained an undocumented immigrant.
Sanctuary cities have been a hot topic of debate since 32-year-old Kathryn Steinle was shot, allegedly by illegal immigrant Juan Francisco Lopez-Sanchez, who had already been deported five times and charged with seven felonies. In the weeks before the shooting, when Lopez-Sanchez was in the local San Francisco County Jail on drug charges, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) had placed a detainer request on him asking that local authorities notify ICE before he was released from jail so they could pick him up for deportation proceedings. Local officials refused to notify ICE and freed Lopez-Sanchez, who then went on to shoot Steinle on a pier a month later.
Paul said his sanctuary city amendment "makes it clear, the American people will not stand for cities harboring violent criminals." He introduced a separate stand-alone bill last month to crack down on the cities.
Paul put forward a third noteworthy amendment on Tuesday to audit the Federal Reserve, continuing the longtime project of his father, former congressman Ron Paul. The elder Paul had introduced a few similar stand-alone Audit the Fed bills to no avail.
The Fed is subject to a number of audits, including reviews by the Government Accountability Office, but since 1978, anything relating to the Fed's monetary policy has been legally exempt from audits, according to Reuters.
"I don't oppose the Federal Reserve because it lacks congressional oversight, although it does. I don't oppose the Federal Reserve because it's a private cartel, though it is. I oppose the Federal Reserve primarily because it wreaks havoc on the economy," Paul said in 2009, according to Bloomberg. "We need to understand that this is the most important question of the last 30, 40 years. What caused the panic of 2008? Was it capitalism or was it the Federal Reserve?"
The larger CISA bill that Paul added the amendments to is quite controversial itself.
Under CISA, private companies such as Google or Facebook would be incentivized to mine user data and then share cyberthreat information with "appropriate federal entities," which can then pass the information throughout the government, according to the Guardian. Supporters say the measure would help companies ward off cyberattacks.
Critics, including the Department of Homeland Security, say the bill could sweep away "important privacy protections."
Senators from both parties have asked that more amendments be added to increase security and privacy protections before having a vote.
"CISA authorizes sweeping Internet monitoring of, and nearly unlimited sharing of information about, Internet users with the federal government, while companies are immune from lawsuits for taking these actions under this legislation," according to Paul's office.
Paul filed an amendment that would establish simple protections for Internet users "by clarifying that no company would be immune from making false promises to their customers."
"Congress should not make it possible for companies to monitor their customers' Internet activities and transfer their data to the government while assuring the same customers that they do neither," Paul's office said. "Instead, Congress should promote accountability to private entities providing Internet services; advance transparency on information sharing conducted by those companies; and empowers Internet users to protect their own privacy."
In all, Paul added nine privacy-focused amendments to the bill, including a whistleblower protection amendment and one to prohibit the government from accessing collection of content without a warrant.
Lawmakers worked for days to reach an agreement on which amendments would be allowed in CISA and were expected to vote on it Wednesday, but they decided to postpone the vote until they come back from summer break in September. Twenty-one Democratic and Republican amendments will receive votes, reported the National Journal.
