Bob Barr: “this, obviously, has been a very vigorous debate, as it should be, and hopefully will continue year after year after…”

“this, obviously, has been a very vigorous debate, as it should be, and hopefully will continue year after year after year, because these concerns that we are debating today are not going to be concluded in one piece of legislation. However, Mr. Chairman, I do think it is important to realize that our Government already has at its beck and call vast powers with which to stop, investigate, prosecute, and sentence to lengthy prison times people who commit terrorist acts in this county. As the gentleman from Michigan [Mr. Conyers] said previously, I am a former prosecutor, a U.S. attorney. I know from having prosecuted cases involving international figures that they do not come into this country frequently because they are afraid of our criminal justice system because of its strength because of its expanse, because of its ability to stop them, to put them away. Mr. Chairman, we do not need to grant our Government now vast new powers. They already have them. What we need to do, Mr. Chairman, is to fine-tune what we already have to make it better. My amendment strikes that very delicate but absolutely essential balance with regard to accountability in Government, individual rights, and Government need to protect us. Mr. Chairman, I urge all of my colleagues on the left, on the right, in that vast middle, to recognize the balance that is struck through the Barr amendment.”