Tom Pappert, lead reporter at The Tennessee Star, said he believes Tennessee U.S. Representative David Kustoff’s (R-TN-08) vote on Friday against an amendment that would have ended the warrantless spying on United States citizens allowed under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) makes the congressman “ripe for a challenge” this election cycle.
Kustoff and Democrat Congressman Steve Cohen (D-TN-09) were the sole members of Tennessee’s congressional delegation to vote against the amendment on Friday, Pappert previously reported.
The amendment, proposed by U.S. Representatives Andy Biggs (R-AZ-05) and Pramila Jayapal (D-WA-07), specifically sought to ban “warrantless searches of U.S. person communications in the FISA 702 database, with exceptions for imminent threats to life or bodily harm, consent searches, or known cybersecurity threat signatures.”
Shortly after the legislation was defeated in a tie vote of 212-212, lawmakers voted to approve the renewal of FISA for two years.
“I am somewhat pleased to report that only one member of the Tennessee delegation to the U.S. House voted against the Biggs amendment, which would have basically gotten rid of these warrantless wiretaps through the FISA court and that is the one, the only, David Kustoff,” Pappert said on Friday’s episode of The Michael Patrick Leahy Show. “Tennessee has done fairly well, except for Representative Kustoff.”
Pappert agreed with Leahy, who noted how Kustoff’s vote against the amendment does not “reflect” what the state of Tennessee feels on the issue.
“I think that’s correct. I think that’s almost plainly easy to see,” Pappert said. “I think Kustoff is ripe for a challenge at this point.”
Currently, the only primary challenger to Kustoff is Shelby County resident Dr. George Flinn.
Flinn, who has run as a Republican and Independent candidate in U.S. Senate and primary races for Tennessee’s 8th and 9th Congressional districts, said he believes Kustoff “should not go unchallenged” considering the incumbent’s recent voting record on bills, particularly spending packages.
Last month, Kustoff voted with the majority of the U.S. House to pass a $1.2 trillion spending package which was criticized by fiscal conservatives for its lack of funding for the U.S.-Mexico border and other areas of interest.
In addition, last November, Kustoff was the only Tennessee Republican to vote against a House measure that would have blocked the construction of a new $375 million headquarters for the Federal Bureau of Investigation in Maryland.
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Kaitlin Housler is a reporter at The Tennessee Star and The Star News Network. Follow Kaitlin on X / Twitter.
Photo “David Kustoff” by David Kustoff.
Its tough to call this a representative government when your elected officials spend most of their time increasing the size and scope of government, working against the peoples interest and lining the pockets of special interests and feathering their own nest.
Time for the RINO to go.
The vote today on the Biggs amendment no. 1 is roll call vote no. 114. This amendment would have ended the warrantless spying on United States citizens (except in a few specific and very rare instances) allowed under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Both David Kustoff and Steve Cohen voted AGAINST this amendment. This amendment was the ‘guts’ of the effort by the U. S. House Freedom Caucus to ‘fix’ the problems with FISA. I myself considered this amendment to be very reasonable and I think that it would have ‘fixed’ the bulk of the objections that conservative Republican Freedom Caucus members had to the reauthorization of FISA. Until the very last seconds of the vote on this amendment, this amendment was passing by a vote of 212 to 211. At the very last instant, the Republican Speaker Johnson cast a NO vote (voting with a majority of the Democrats {126} and a minority of the Republicans {86}) to make the final vote 212 to 212 (which meant that the Biggs amendment failed).
There were a total of six (6) amendments offered to the underlying bill (HR 7888) which was up for reauthorization of FISA for another two years (until April 2026 I think it is). Roll Call Vote were taken on five (5) of these six (6) amendments and can be found, successively, in roll call votes nos. 115 through 118. Some of these amendments were good from my conservative Republican viewpoint and some were not.
The vote on final passage of the underlying bill (HR 7888) is roll call vote no. 119. On this vote the underlying bill passed 273 {147 Democrats and 126 Republicans} to 147 {59 Democrats and 88 Republicans}. Voting FOR this bill with a majority of the Democrats were Charles Fleischmann, John Rose, David Kustoff, Steve Cohen and Republican Speaker Johnson. Voting AGAINST this bill were Diana Harshbarger, Tim Burchett, Scott DesJarlais, Andy Ogles, and Mark Green.
Sen. Brent Taylor should run for that seat. Conservative Christian. If that happens, Dr. Flinn needs to step aside unless Kustoff is throwing him some shekels to stay in?
Kustoff and Cohen huh? Interesting.
I’m sure they want FISA to be able to eavesdrop on American citizens in case someone says anything negative about our Greatest Ally.