Regardless of political party, every American should be concerned when our federal government is using its power to target political opponents, censor information, and suppress dissent.

Unfortunately, rotten leadership within the FBI has been doing that over the past few years.

From teaming up with Big Tech to shut down free speech to spying on American Catholics, pro-life organizations, and concerned parents to even fabricating an entire investigation into the Trump campaign, the outrageous abuse of power and weaponization at our FBI is out of hand.

And these are just a few examples. You can click here for a list of more.

That’s why this week when the House Judiciary Committee held a hearing with FBI Director Christopher Wray, I was looking forward to getting answers from him.

However, in typical FBI leadership fashion, he dodged the questions.

I asked him point blank if Joe Biden took payments from Burisma or any other foreign companies (click here to watch). Director Wray responded that there is an ongoing investigation, but when I pressed him further, he started backpedaling and refused to answer whether or not Joe Biden was being investigated.

It’s truly a shame that the bureau will not come clean and answer one simple question: Is our president under investigation for taking foreign bribes?

I also asked Director Wray if the FBI will interfere in the 2024 election, as they did in 2016 with the Trump-Russia collusion hoax and in 2020 when they hid the fact that Hunter Biden’s laptop was real and allowed social media companies to censor the laptop as “misinformation.”

Predictably, Mr. Wray assured me there would be no election interference in 2024; however, I have a hard time believing that after the past few years.

Without significant reforms to the FBI, it’s bound to happen again.

That’s why it is up to Congress to reign in the corruption. We have a number of tools, and it’s time we started using them.

The first is something called the Holman rule. This is a mechanism that allows Congress to reduce the salary of corrupt or incompetent bureaucrats down to $1. I believe this is one of the most effective legislative instruments Congress has when it comes to holding administration officials accountable.

Congress should also use the power of the purse within the appropriations process to cut funding, in particular for the FBI’s new $3.5 billion building.

When it comes to policy, we also need to take a close look at what’s known as the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). This law, which is up for renewal this year, is in need of reform. That’s because it has been abused by the FBI far too many times. In fact, the liberal Washington Post broke a story revealing that the bureau has used this law more than 278,000 times against everyday Americans.

When my colleague Matt Gaetz (FL-01) pressed Director Wray on how many times the FBI has broken the law with illegal FISA warrantless surveillance, he refused to answer.

These are all questions the American people deserve answers to. They impact every single one of us, and if the FBI Director cannot provide direct answers, Congress must act.