Louise Slaughter: “permit me first to say this morning that our thoughts and prayers are with our friends in London who today are coping…”

“permit me first to say this morning that our thoughts and prayers are with our friends in London who today are coping with what seems to be a second terrorist attack in 2 weeks. Thankfully, the causalities appear to be minimal. And my colleagues and I in this House offer our most sincere hope that no one in London will have to suffer this pain again associated with the abominable actions taken 2 weeks ago and unsuccessfully attempted again today. I would like to thank the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Gingrey) for yielding me the customary 30 minutes. Mr. Speaker, I rise today in defense of nothing less than our national security, but national security is not just about protecting our borders. It is also about protecting our freedoms. All of my colleagues understand that the PATRIOT Act has provided the law enforcement agencies with many valuable tools which facilitate their work in the struggle against terrorism. But with these new tools comes a very real danger that the liberty we seek to protect could be easily compromised in the overzealous pursuit of greater security. This struggle strikes at the heart of the debate over the legislation before us today. And while the restrictive rule we are debating this morning has allowed us to improve the PATRIOT Act in several important ways, the leadership has chosen to prohibit open debate in consideration of the most sensitive, controversial, and important issues that surround this bill.…”