madam speaker , i yield 2 minutes to the gentleman from maryland ( mr. ruppersberger ) . 
mr. ruppersberger . 
madam speaker , i rise in support of the motion to instruct . 
let me say up front that i think the patriot act provided essential tools that were not available before the 9/11 terrorist attacks . 
these tools are essential to identifying and tracking terrorists inside the united states , and that is the way it should be . 
it has to be national security first . 
but the patriot act was passed just 7 weeks after 9/11 . 
when it was passed , there were concerns that some of the authorities were too broad or too susceptible to abuse . 
the proposal emerged to sunset 16 of the most controversial provisions . 
that was a sensible idea . 
the sunsets would allow the justice department and the public to evaluate the effectiveness of these provisions and decide whether there was a continuing need for them or a need to modify them . 
the house bill includes important refinements to the patriot act passed 4 years ago . 
honest people can disagree about whether these provisions were too broad or just right ; but the point is , the sunset provisions worked . 
they compelled congress to take a second look at key provisions in the patriot act and improve them . 
the sunsets forced us to have accountability as we expanded law enforcement authorities . 
that is a game plan that we should stick with . 
we should continue to scrutinize these authorities from time to time . 
that is why i offered an amendment to extend the patriot act sunsets during the intelligence committee markup of h.r. 3199 . 
like my amendment , this instruction to conferees to accept the senate sunsets would not alter the original patriot act authorities . 
after all , national security has to be our number one priority , but accepting the senate sunsets would also force us to reevaluate again 4 years from now whether they are truly effective in fighting terrorism . 
oversight and accountability is an essential element of the patriot act . 
i would also like to respond to the chairman 's point that there were not any abuses . 
the issue is not whether there were abuses . 
the issue is setting a system that we need to have in effect . 
mr. speaker , i yield 2 minutes to the gentlewoman from texas ( ms. jackson-lee ) xz4001990 , another distinguished member of the house judiciary committee . 
