On the recordFebruary 25, 2010
this is not where I hoped we would be, 8 rac{1}{2} years after the USA PATRIOT Act became law. Congress should not have passed that law in such haste in 2001 and ought to have enacted meaningful reforms to it years ago. That is why I voted against the PATRIOT Act in the first place, and it is why, Congress after Congress, year after year, I have sponsored and cosponsored bills and amendments to enact changes that would protect the rights of innocent Americans while also ensuring that the government has the authorities it needs to protect national security. So needless to say, it is far from ideal that the three expiring provisions are being extended for 1 year. But my hope is that Congress will take the opportunity presented by the 1-year extension to finally enact the meaningful changes to the PATRIOT Act that I have been advocating for years. It is well past time to place appropriate checks and balances on authorities like national security letters, whose abuse the inspector general has documented repeatedly; "sneak and peek" searches, which allow government agents to search Americans' homes without telling them until well after the fact; and section 215 orders, which authorize the government to secretly obtain records about Americans without connections to terrorists or spies. I will continue to fight for these reforms, just as I did a few months ago in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
