mr. chairman , i yield myself 2 1/2 minutes . 
mr. chairman , this is a straightforward amendment intended to modestly improve the patriot act , and let me just state exactly what it does . 
`` it is the sense of congress that the federal government should not investigate any american citizen for alleged criminal conduct solely on the basis of citizen 's membership in a nonviolent political organization or the fact that the citizen was engaging in other lawful political activity. '' it seems like this should go without saying . 
i can not imagine anybody disagreeing with this . 
but our history shows that there has been abuse in this area . 
as far back as the civil war , world war i , and world war ii , very often speaking out on political issues were met with law enforcement officials actually charging them with crimes and even having individuals imprisoned . 
in the 1960s we remember that there was wiretapping of martin luther king and other political organizations . 
in the 1970s we know about the illegal wiretapping and other activities associated with watergate , and also in the 1990s we are aware of irs audits of a political and religious organization based only on the fact that they were religious and political . 
so this is a restatement of a fundamental principle that should be in our minds and in our law , but i think it is worthwhile to restate . 
and i do recognize that in the patriot act they recognize that the first amendment should be protected , and in this case i think it is an additional statement that we should be respectful of people 's rights to speak out and not be singled out for political or religious viewpoints . 
