Political Quotes

“Mr. Speaker, I yield myself such time as I may consume. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in opposition to this extension of the three expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act. When we last considered these expiring provisions, it was to extend them temporarily so that the House could review them and consider whether to improve them or allow them to expire. Many Members on both sides of the aisle objected to extending these provisions without so much as a hearing or an opportunity to debate changes to the law. In fact, the extension was rejected the first time with the votes of both Democrats and Republicans. Since that debate, Chairman Sensenbrenner did in fact hold a series of hearings in which members of the Judiciary Committee were able to consider the issues and hear from many thoughtful experts who were able to make helpful suggestions. These three provisions dealing with roving wiretap authority, expansion of the definition of an agent of a foreign power to include so-called lone wolfs, and section 215, which allows the government to obtain business and library records using an order from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court instead of the normal methods have aroused a great deal of controversy and concern, and rightly so.…”