Representative Heather Wilson: “I would like to start out this evening by correcting a few misstatements. First, the letter that has been referred to a…”

“I would like to start out this evening by correcting a few misstatements. First, the letter that has been referred to a couple of times here by Mr. Sessions and Mr. Webster refers to a bill introduced by Senator Specter in the Senate which is quite different than the legislation that we are considering here in the House tonight. Secondly, my colleagues should know that the White House does not approve of this legislation. In fact, they had not even seen the legislation before I introduced it in the House, and my colleagues on both sides of the aisle had that legislation before the administration ever did. This is a House bill and a House product. I wanted to thank the chairman of the Intelligence Committee and Chairman Sensenbrenner of the Judiciary Committee, and my colleagues Dan Lungren and Nancy Johnson for their work and help in crafting this legislation that we are here to consider tonight. I think it is important for all of my colleagues to understand why it is important to move forward with the legislation. All of us in America remember where we were on the morning of September 11. Most of us remember it in fine detail. But none of us remember where we were when the Canadian Mounties arrested 17 people who had amassed the material for two Oklahoma City-size bombs across the river from Detroit.”