Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. I rise in opposition to this extension of the expiring provisions of the Patriot Act and the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act. I cannot support this extension when the House has done nothing to consider these provisions, or possible reforms, or even to hold a hearing or a markup. While in the past, Members have had the opportunity to receive classified briefings, we have dozens of new Members who have received no such briefings. Section 215 authorizes the government to obtain ``any tangible thing'' relevant to a terrorism investigation, even if there is no showing that the ``thing'' pertains to suspected terrorists or terrorist activities. It is sweeping in scope, and the government is not required to show reasonable suspicion or probable cause before undertaking investigation that infringes upon a person's privacy, including the records of what he has read in the library. Congress should either ensure that things collected with this power have a meaningful nexus to suspected terrorist activity or allow the provision to expire. Section 206 provides for roving wiretaps which permit the government to obtain intelligence surveillance orders that identify neither the person nor the facility to be tapped. This is supposedly to update the law to deal with portable cell phones and the like and other modern technology, but it goes too far.…”