Bill Delahunt: “I do have a disagreement, because we hear much about roving wiretaps, we hear much about expanded powers; but I think it…”

“I do have a disagreement, because we hear much about roving wiretaps, we hear much about expanded powers; but I think it is absolutely essential to note that the expansion of powers do not go to the criminal side of the bill that is before us. In other words, the safeguards that are inculcated in our jurisprudence through the fourth amendment of the Constitution are still there. All those checks and balances are still there. Clearly, there is an unease; and I share some of these concerns. I do not think that there was any doubt in the aftermath of September 11 that it was clear that the administration was going to come to the Congress to seek additional authorities to deal with the terrorist attacks on our Nation. And while all of us were ready to and willing to grant them, what was appropriate, many, including myself, also braced for a frontal assault on civil liberties. In that regard, even the administration proposal was most notable, in my opinion, for what it did not contain: no new death penalty provisions, no new mandatory sentences.”