Charles Skelton: “From my perspective as chairman of the Armed Services Committee, the bill strongly supports the intelligence needs of…”

“From my perspective as chairman of the Armed Services Committee, the bill strongly supports the intelligence needs of those who wear the uniform. Every day, American men and women deployed in harm's way depend on electronic surveillance capabilities to achieve their missions. Because of this bill and the work that has been done in this Congress, especially the Intelligence Committee and the Judiciary Committee, I thank them, and at the end of the day the young men and young women will be the beneficiaries of this strong legislation. Madam Speaker, I rise today in strong support of H.R. 6304, the FISA Amendments Act of 2008. The bipartisan compromise before us today strikes the right balance between providing our intelligence community with the tools they need to find and fight terrorists, and protecting our constitutional rights. I want to thank my colleagues, Silvestre Reyes and John Conyers, our Intelligence and Judiciary Committee Chairmen, for their hard work in bringing a strong bill to the floor today. I am pleased that we have resolved this critical national security issue through bipartisan negotiations between the Administration and the Congress and I want to particularly commend Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Steny Hoyer for their leadership in reaching this landmark legislation.”