Scott Walker: The U.S. 'would be much better off' if Congress renewed the Patriot Act

In a Fox and Friends interview Wednesday morning, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker (R) said America "would be much better off" if Congress had renewed the USA Patriot Act, rather than implementing the USA Freedom Act, which rolls back the key Patriot Act provision that allowed the NSA to collect Americans' phone data in bulk. Walker agreed, though, that the Freedom Act, which the Senate passed on Tuesday, is still better than having nothing in its place.

Walker called the Patriot Act "an important tool," and added that it was useful for monitoring terror threats after 9/11. As for the NSA's bulk data collection from phone records, Walker said the government was "collecting the data and accessing it under a very legal constitutional process" that only took place when there was "clear evidence that someone is connected with an enemy combatant."

Walker is expected to announce later this month whether or not he intends to run for president in 2016.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up