mr. chairman , anyone who was serving in congress on september 11 , 2001 , will never forget the day . 
we watched television in horror as the world trade center collapsed , and then were rushed out of the u.s. capitol when flight 77 crashed into the pentagon . 
president bush immediately challenged us to provide u.s. citizens with protections against the new threat of worldwide terrorism , and within weeks we responded with the usa patriot act . 
as chairman of the house financial services committee , i was proud to help author the antiterrorist financing provisions in the act . 
my committee has held numerous oversight hearings on the implementation of the provisions since then . 
i can report progress . 
more than $ 147 million in assets have been frozen and roughly $ 65 million seized since 9/11 . 
the u.s. has broken up suspected terrorist financing networks , including one in my home state of ohio . 
our terrorist financing tools were further augmented by the intelligence reform act approved in the wake of the 9/11 commission report . 
as a former fbi agent , i have found other parts of the patriot act just as vital in the defense of our freedoms . 
as we have been reminded by the two rounds of bombings in london , the reality of terrorism remains very much with us . 
the toll that these attacks take is so terrible that the only acceptable approach is to prevent them in the first place . 
to that end , today we are working to make permanent 14 of the 16 expiring provisions of the patriot act . 
i would note that one of the two provisions being extended for only ten years rather than permanently concerns the use of `` roving wiretaps. '' as one of the only members of congress who has conducted undercover surveillance , i can tell you now that the need for this authority will not go away . 
tying intercept authority to an individual rather than a particular communication device is simply common sense in this era of throwaway cell phones and e-mail . 
sunsetting this authority sends the wrong message to our law enforcement agencies : it indicates that our trust in them is incomplete at a time when their services have never proven more important . 
they should have our full support and every reasonable tool we can give them to help fight the global war on terror . 
the patriot act has been a success and we are safer for it . 
the law has come under misguided criticism from some quarters , and i am constantly answering questions from my congressional district in response to myths surrounding the act . 
there is absolutely no evidence that the patriot act has been used to violate americans ' civil liberties . 
congress recognizes the delicate balance between deterring terrorists and preserving our precious freedoms . 
i feel confident in saying that terrorists make no such distinction . 
i support the reauthorization of the patriot act and hope that we can continue to work on remaining issues -- including making the roving wiretap provision permanent . 
