Congressman Paul Tonko (NY-20) released a statement today in response to news that millions of telephone records from United States Verizon customers were collected by the federal government under an order by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order.

“I voted against extending the PATRIOT Act because of the effect the law has on our civil liberties in situations such as this. While it appears everything was done with accordance of the law, I remain concerned that we as a nation are not striking a balance between protecting our liberties and maintaining national security. Moving forward, it is my hope that we can put into use the Privacy and Civil Rights Board the law created while strengthening Congressional oversight until the PATRIOT Act expires,” said Tonko.

Under the order, the government obtained phone numbers of both parties on every Verizon call, the call's duration, location data and the time of day the calls were made. The order does not allow the government to listen in on the calls or obtain details of their contents.

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