William F. Smith: “I reluctantly support H.R. 5104, which extends the Protect America Act for 2 weeks. Last year, the Director of National…”

“I reluctantly support H.R. 5104, which extends the Protect America Act for 2 weeks. Last year, the Director of National Intelligence, Admiral McConnell, notified Congress about a dangerous loophole in our ability to collect intelligence information overseas. Director McConnell estimated that the intelligence community was missing two-thirds of all overseas terrorist communications. Congress passed the Protect America Act last August to close this loophole. Unfortunately, the legislation contained an arbitrary 6-month sunset and is currently set to expire this Friday. After 6 months of waiting, the Democratic majority is now coming perilously close to threatening the safety of every American. But rather than pass a long-term fix to the terrorist loophole, the Democratic majority wants another extension. The truth is we do not need any temporary extension. In fact, there is a bipartisan bill that we can and should pass today. The Senate Intelligence Committee already has approved a bill to close the terrorist loophole and provide liability protection to the telecommunication companies. That is being blocked by the Democratic majority.”