Jim Sensenbrenner: “First of all, the argument that has been advanced by my colleague from Colorado just doesn't mesh with the facts, and…”

“First of all, the argument that has been advanced by my colleague from Colorado just doesn't mesh with the facts, and maybe I can give him a little bit of historical background. First of all, I was the chairman of the full Judiciary Committee on September 11. When the Patriot Act was introduced, we had two hearings and a full committee markup. The Senate didn't have that, even though it was controlled by the Democrats, and there were long negotiations to come up with the original Patriot Act that the President signed. At that time, I insisted that there be a sunset provision on all of the 16 additional provisions of the Patriot Act that expanded law enforcement powers, and I gave the commitment as chairman of the committee I would hold hearings on each of these 16 provisions, subsequently increased to 17, before the sunset expired, and I did. At that time, the testimony was very clear that there was no controversy over making permanent 14 of the 16 provisions, and the Patriot Act extension did that.”