Hilda L. Solis: “President Bush and the congressional Republicans refuse to face the facts on the expiration of the President's Protect…”

“President Bush and the congressional Republicans refuse to face the facts on the expiration of the President's Protect America Act, and instead continue their false and misleading scare tactics that are not productive and will do nothing to protect our Nation. Republicans continue to claim that the expiration of the Protect America Act has reduced our ability to conduct surveillance. That is false, and Republicans know it. They know that the Protect America Act gave the intelligence community authorization for one full year, meaning that they are all still in effect until August of this year. If Republicans really believed that the expiration of the act would jeopardize our national security, why did every single Republican Member of this body vote against a 21-day extension of the act last month? Washington Republicans can't have it both ways. Rather than resorting to political games, congressional Republicans should have joined bicameral negotiations that were conducted for several weeks to develop a strong compromise bill. It is time that the Republicans get off the sidelines and work with our Congress. Let's see this legislation come to the floor today.”