Political Quotes

“I thank the gentleman for yielding. Mr. Speaker, today we have the first chance in more than a decade to finally place some real limits on the sweeping, unwarranted--and at times unlawful--government surveillance that many of us have fought against for years. First and foremost--and as the administration acknowledges in its Statement of Administration Policy--this bill will end bulk collection under section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act, and will ensure that the government is also prohibited from using its National Security Letter authority, or pen registers and trap-and-trace devices, for bulk collection. It does so by requiring the government to identify a specific selection term--something like a person's name, or an account or telephone number--as the basis for obtaining information. This term must limit the scope of records collected to those that are ``relevant'' to an authorized investigation, which requires a reasonable relationship between the particular records and the subjects of a terrorism investigation. I share the concerns that the current definition of ``specific selection term'' may still allow overbroad collection.…”