Lamar Smith: “Mr. Speaker, the Senate amendment to H.R. 514 extends the three expiring provisions of the Patriot Act for only 90 days.…”

“Mr. Speaker, the Senate amendment to H.R. 514 extends the three expiring provisions of the Patriot Act for only 90 days. I am disappointed that the Senate refused to agree to the 10-month extension approved by the House earlier this week. Repeated short-term extensions of these authorities create uncertainty for our intelligence agencies. They don't know if the tools they rely on to keep America safe today will be available to them tomorrow. That is why the House sought a 10-month extension, to allow sufficient time to reauthorize the law while providing greater certainty to the intelligence community. With adoption of this amendment, the House and Senate will now have to move expeditiously to approve a Patriot reauthorization bill so we can avoid the need for another short-term extension. It is important that the House approves this 90-day extension today to keep the expiring intelligence-gathering provisions in place.”