Jim Sensenbrenner: “Mr. Speaker, last week, 122 Democrats rejected legislation to temporarily extend the three expiring Patriot Act…”

“Mr. Speaker, last week, 122 Democrats rejected legislation to temporarily extend the three expiring Patriot Act provisions, including 36 who supported a 1-year extension last year. These votes are nothing but the minority party playing politics with national security, and their arguments ring hollow. The Democrats' 1-year extension last February successfully achieved their goal of delaying Patriot reauthorization until after the midterm elections. But it left very little time for the new Congress to complete a reauthorization bill before the February 28 sunset. My colleagues on the other side of the aisle now profess concerns with the expiring provisions. If they were so concerned about the law, they could have easily brought a reauthorization bill to the floor last Congress making changes to these provisions, but they did not. They also take issue with the process used to achieve this much-needed extension, criticizing the absence of hearings or a markup. But they gloss over the fact that their 1-year extension was brought straight to the floor with no hearings, no markup, and no opportunity to offer amendments--the same circumstances that a year later they now claim to dislike.”