mr. speaker , i rise today in strong opposition to h.r. 3199 . 
while this conference report makes some improvement to the current patriot act , it fails to address some major deficiencies , and in many ways , it makes the current situation worse . 
the original intent of the patriot act was to provide our law enforcement officials with the necessary tools to make our country more secure . 
while maintaining national security is absolutely a necessary responsibility of congress , it can and must be achieved without compromising our civil liberties . 
unlike the proponents of h.r. 3199 , the american people do not believe that security and liberty are mutually exclusive goals . 
a delicate balance between enhancing security and protecting liberty needs to be present . 
but unfortunately , this bill before us today falls far short to achieving this appropriate balance . 
mr. speaker , back in 2001 , when the patriot act was enacted , 16 provisions were sunsetted or authorized for a certain period of time because of their controversial nature and also due to the hurried manner in which they were drafted ; 14 of these 16 provisions are made permanent by this conference report . 
and while three of the most contentious provisions have been sunsetted for 4 years , even that is too long . 
section 215 , commonly referred to as the library records provision , grossly expands the federal government 's ability to seize records and investigate citizens ' reading habits without any notification . 
section 206 , dubbed the roving wiretaps provision , grants the government the power to perform so-called john doe wiretaps in which they do not have to disclose the phones that will be tapped or even the names of the suspected person . 
section 6001 , known as the lone wolf provision , broadly redefines the foreign intelligence surveillance act 's , fisa , standard for the agent of foreign power . 
the new definition is so expansive that the government can now define any individual non-u.s. person as a terrorist suspect , even if the individual has no clear ties to a foreign government . 
mr. speaker , it is more than apparent that these three provisions pose a threat to american citizens ' civil liberties . 
and while i would rather see these provisions removed from the legislation , i am encouraged that a shorter sunset has been placed upon them . 
but , unfortunately , mr. speaker , shorter sunsets do not do the trick . 
sunsets alone do not fix the severe substantive flaws of these sections , and they do nothing to address the deficiencies of the 14 other provisions that are being made permanent by this report . 
instead of opting to apply shorter sunset dates to these misguided provisions , congress should be exploring appropriate ways to fix them . 
after all , giving the government the power to violate civil liberties is wrong regardless of whether we give the government that power for 1 year or 4 years or for 100 years . 
most notable of the deficient provisions , which was made permanent by the original patriot act , is section 505 , known as the national security letters provision , nsls . 
these nsls are administrative subpoenas , issued by high-ranking department of justice officials , which force a person to turn over a wide range of personal records . 
essentially , nsls allow the fbi to conduct secret , warrantless searches of any records they deem relevant to national security . 
what is most concerning about nsls are the rate in which they are being issued and the eventual relevancy of the retrieved records . 
more than 30 , 000 nsls are being issued a year , a hundred-fold increase since the enactment of the patriot act . 
meanwhile , only a handful of nsl investigations have ever gone through the judicial process . 
moreover , the fbi has surreptitiously gathered information on tens of thousands of americans . 
they are maintaining databases on these citizens . 
and instead of deleting information on nsl recipients once an investigation is completed , the fbi is abusing this power and holding onto personal information of americans who have never been accused of any crime . 
mr. speaker , while this conference report does require the department of justice to report the number of national security letters they issue , it fails to address the abuse of power and the unconstitutionality of the provision . 
as determined by a federal court judge on october 4 , 2005 , the nsl provision was ruled to be unconstitutional . 
so instead of reevaluating this provision or at the very least sunsetting it , the nsl provision remains permanent and continues to infringe upon the civil liberties of the american people . 
mr. speaker , we all must be reminded that privacy is a right guaranteed by our constitution , not a luxury that we can simply discard when it becomes inconvenient to the government . 
shorter sunsets and minimal regulations imposed on the department of justice do not cure the serious problems with these provisions . 
congress needs to go back to the negotiating table , reevaluate these provisions , and come up with a report that strikes the appropriate balance between advancing security and defending our civil rights . 
that is why , mr. speaker , i am a cosponsor of h.r. 4506 . 
this legislation , introduced by the ranking member of the judiciary committee , mr. conyers , extends by 3 months the 16 provisions of the patriot act set to expire at the end of this year . 
extending the patriot act in its current form for 3 months would give lawmakers the opportunity to reevaluate these contentious provisions , fix them , and then issue a conference report that actually protects the civil liberties of the people of this country and not hinders them . 
i would like to share a quote from an article entitled `` going down in history with usa patriot act , '' which appeared in the november 27 edition of the massachusetts republican : `` unless lawmakers are prepared to revise the usa patriot act to include modest protections to safeguard civil liberties , they will go down in history as the authors of remarkably bad legislation. '' mr. speaker , when we in congress authorize federal agencies , it is our responsibility to grant them with an appropriate level of power so that abuse will not occur . 
it is also our responsibility to demand accountability and conduct appropriate oversight . 
sadly , under this republican leadership , neither responsibility has been fulfilled . 
one final observation . 
we are all , every single member of this house is committed to protecting our country from terrorism . 
we must adjust our laws accordingly to deal with any potential threat . 
but we must not undercut or undermine the protection of our civil liberties . 
mr. speaker , democracy requires courage , and we can protect our citizens from terrorism and at the same time protect their civil liberties . 
they are not mutually exclusive . 
i am not convinced that the bill as written will enhance our national security , nor am i convinced that these broad , sweeping powers that we are now giving to our government will not be abused . 
in our recent history , we have seen abuse of power . 
we have seen civil rights leaders in this country , people who have advocated equal treatment under the law for all of our citizens , we have seen these people put under surveillance . 
they have been wiretapped . 
we have seen others who have raised their voices in dissent or who have advocated issues that are now viewed as the mainstream , we have seen that they have been spied upon by our own government . 
so let us not give government more power than is needed . 
that is my fear today , that we are going too far , that we are paving the way for abuse , and that if we enact this bill as written , a little bit of the liberty tree will die . 
mr. speaker , i reserve the balance of my time . 
