madam speaker , i thank the gentleman for yielding me this time and i commend him for his leadership . 
and i am pleased to see that , so far , this debate has all been in favor of support of this motion to instruct , which i think is a very important statement for this house to make . 
madam speaker , i take my responsibilities as ranking member of the intelligence committee very seriously . 
i spend a lot of my day and a lot of my weekend , and most of my nights thinking and dreaming about how i can add value to protecting americans and american interests . 
earlier today , hotels in amman , jordan , were bombed . 
over 50 people are dead , scores are wounded . 
the terrorists are there , and let us not make any mistake about it , they are trying to be here again . 
so it is absolutely correct that we need modern and appropriate legal authorities to find them , and prevent and disrupt their plans before they are able to execute them . 
prevention and disruption is much better than response , and i think everyone in this chamber is dedicated to making sure we have the right tools . 
that is why the patriot act passed 45 days after 9/11 , overwhelmingly , and that is why the house bill passed again recently by a large margin . 
however , consistent with statements that mr. rohrabacher has just made , as we give these expanded authorities , we also need to assure the law-abiding public of america that we will be vigilant in supervising these authorities . 
not just today , not just in the oversight hearings we held during this last year and , yes , we held a lot of them , but tomorrow and next year and the year after . 
having sunsets for these controversial provisions matters . 
that is why in the intelligence committee mr. ruppersberger and mr. hastings offered amendments to impose sunsets . 
some amendments passed , but they did not survive in the final house bill . 
sunsets are a good idea , and i think with very strong bipartisan support in this chamber , that these new authorities need to carry with them the promise that congress will be vigilant and , that 4 years from now , we will reconsider whether they are necessary . 
let me also add a word about national security letters , which were a remedy designed in the 1970s . 
i think national security letters , a tool not in the patriot act , need to be reviewed as well by this house , and i think we need to consider whether the authority is too broad or whether , using a magistrate system or some other system , they should be reviewed before they are issued . 
they should not become the backdoor route to using patriot act authorities without going through this careful system we have set up . 
so , in conclusion , madam speaker , it is a dangerous world . 
we need the tools necessary to find the so-called `` bad guys '' before they attack us , but we also need the tools necessary to assure law-abiding americans that we are paying careful attention , and that the congress , an independent branch , will not now , not ever , let down our responsibility to safeguard civil liberty for american citizens . 
