I have been the author of the PATRIOT Act and the PATRIOT Act reauthorization of 2006.

I am not a civil rights icon. I try to be a mechanic to put together legislation that will work.

I was proud to have served as Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee when the Voting Rights Act was last reauthorized.

I would like to thank each of the witnesses for very excellent testimony.

Nobody should be convicted of a crime that doesn't have the intent to do something that the law forbids.

This is a vast undertaking, and we are operating under somewhat of a time limit because the life of task forces are supposed to be 6 months.

I think this confirms the point that all of us have been making on this issue and demonstrates the breadth of over-criminalization.

We are not going to take that kind of 'no' for an answer.

I had a hand in drafting, requires that the business records FISA warrants, or orders, be directed solely at foreigners.

How can Section 215 be utilized to scoop up the phone records of American citizens who are not in communication with a foreigner?

There are no due process protections in place because the recipient of the FISA warrant can't tell what records he's turned over.