mr. chairman , i thank the gentlewoman for yielding me this time , and i salute her for her extraordinary leadership on issues relating to the national security of our country , her excellent leadership as the ranking member on the permanent select committee on intelligence , and her important comments today . 
i also salute the gentleman from michigan ( mr. conyers ) xz4000800 and commend him for being such a guardian of our constitution . 
mr. chairman , we take an oath of office to protect and defend the constitution . 
no one is more committed to that oath than the gentleman from michigan ( mr. conyers ) xz4000800 . 
i thank him for his tremendous leadership . 
i join them and each and every one of our colleagues in expressing our admiration for the people of great britain for their strength and their courage . 
together our two nations will defeat terrorism , and we will do so by pursuing real security measures and by providing law enforcement the tools they need . 
mr. chairman , as we close debate on this important bill , i want to thank again the gentleman from michigan ( mr. conyers ) xz4000800 , the gentlewoman from california ( ms. harman ) xz4001660 , and so many other colleagues on both sides of the aisle for their thoughtful consideration of this very important matter . 
i am very impressed by the comments of the gentleman from virginia ( mr. boucher ) xz4000430 , who has contributed enormously to this debate . 
our first responsibility to the american people is to provide for the common defense , to protect and defend the american people . 
in doing so , we must also protect and defend the constitution , as i mentioned . 
we must pursue real security measures that prevent terrorism . 
we must make a strong commitment to homeland security . 
and we can not , because of any negligence in terms of protecting the american people in terms of homeland security , take it out on their civil liberties . 
our founding fathers in their great wisdom understood the balance between security and liberty . 
they lived at a time when security was all about homeland security . 
the war was fought on our shores and continued into the war of 1812 here . 
and so they knew that in order to have a democracy and to have freedom and to have liberty and to ensure it and to protect the people , they had to create that balance . 
today we are considering the extension of certain provisions of the usa patriot act . 
i want to add my voice to those who have made it clear to this body that the patriot act is the law of the land . 
ninety percent of it is in the law . 
about 10 percent of it , 16 provisions , are what we are considering today . 
they are the provisions that were considered controversial 4 years ago when the bill was passed . 
and because they were controversial , in a bipartisan way , these provisions were sunsetted . 
there was a limit to how long they would be in effect . 
i supported the bill because of these sunset provisions and because of the rigorous oversight that was promised . 
we have not seen that oversight . 
it simply has not happened in an effective way . 
and today there is an attempt on the part of the republicans to eliminate the sunset of 14 of the 16 provisions and on the two remaining provisions to have a sunset of 10 years . 
that is a very , very long day when you are curtailing the liberties of the american people . 
i again listened intently to the gentleman from virginia ( mr. boucher ) xz4000430 when he described in detail the serious constitutional issues concerning section 505 , national security letter orders , by which government possesses power to seize citizens ' medical and other personal records without notice , without the ability to challenge these orders , and without meaningful time limitations . 
and for this reason , i will join the gentleman from virginia ( mr. boucher ) xz4000430 in opposing this legislation but with the hope that it will be improved in conference and then , when it comes back to this body , that we will be able to all support a patriot act extension that protects the american people , gives law enforcement the tools they need without seriously curtailing the privacy and civil liberties of the american people . 
i think it is important to note that the bill before us fails to ensure accountability . 
again , when congress voted for this 4 years ago , members clearly understood that it would be accompanied by strong congressional oversight so that the implementation would not violate our civil liberties . 
in fact , the attorney general has admitted that the information on its use of the patriot act has not been forthcoming to congress in a timely manner . 
if not for the sunset provisions , there is no doubt that congress would not have even received insufficient information we have received to date . 
today we are deciding whether the government will be accountable to the people , to the congress , and to the courts for the exercise of its power . 
it is about whether broad surveillance powers that intrude on americans ' privacy rights contain safeguards and actually materially enhance security to target terrorists and those who wish to harm the united states , not needlessly intrude on the constitutional rights of innocent and law-abiding american citizens . 
unfortunately , republicans refused to permit amendments that would have extended the sunset by 4 years and created sunsets for the national security letter provisions to ensure that these provisions would never be abused . 
perhaps they thought that these amendments would have been too appealing to the many members of this house on the republican side who are strong supporters of privacy rights for the american people and they did not want these amendments to pass . 
for whatever reason , the american people are not well served by not having as open a debate with the opportunity for these sunset provisions to be considered . 
these amendments should have been considered as a minimum part of any effort to improve the patriot act and this bill . 
usa today said in an editorial : `` congress has an opportunity to ... .. 
ensure '' that these provisions `` remain temporary , the best way to monitor the law 's use and keep law enforcement accountable. '' we have a duty to protect the american people from terrorism but also to protect law-abiding citizens from unaccountable and unchallengeable government power over their personal lives , their personal records , and their thoughts . 
because i believe this bill fails to meet these objectives , as i said , i will oppose it today with the hope that there will be an improved bill coming from the conference committee . 
again , our founding fathers left us with the ever present challenge of finding the balance between security and liberty . 
it is the story of america . 
we must honor their legacy in however we vote today . 
i would hope that even those who support the bill do so in the hope that it will come back a better bill from conference . 
all members should honor their oath of office and carry out their duty to protect and defend our nation while protecting and defending our constitution and our civil liberties . 
i thank all who have participated in this very important debate and hope that at the end of the day , and i hope it is not a day with a very long sunset , but at the end of the day that we can all get behind a patriot act extension that does respect the civil liberties of the american people . 
again , i remind my colleagues , the patriot act is the law . 
the sunsetted provisions are what are being considered today . 
the sunsets , by and large , have been removed or extended to such an extent that they do not even matter , and we can do better . 
we have an obligation to do better for the american people . 
