mr. speaker , i rise in support of this motion . 
after 9/11 , the united states congress gave our investigative agencies a wide variety of special powers to fight a war on terrorism , an expansion of powers that we would have never approved in peacetime . 
this included the right to break into homes of american citizens without court order , seize documents , copy computer files , and evidence without ever telling the owner . 
we gave our agencies , among those other things , the right to wiretap and intercept phone and computer communications without prior cause , and in general we lowered the requirement for lawful searches . 
i supported this dramatic expansion of federal power because our country was at war . 
in times of emergency , it is responsible to increase the power of our government , yet we recognize that these powers should contain sunset provisions . 
the first patriot act had 16 of its sections sunsetted , so after the emergency was over the government would again return to a level consistent to a free society . 
our republic was founded on the idea that the powers of government should be limited . 
we should not be required to live in peacetime under the extraordinary laws that were passed during times of war and crisis . 
emergency powers of investigation should not become the standard once the crisis has passed . 
i am seriously concerned about the use of emergency conditions to permanently alter our constitutional legal rights . 
until now , the members of this body have been denied the ability to vote their conscience on the issue of sunsets . 
now , each of us will have that opportunity . 
it is not a republican vote , it is not a democrat vote . 
i support this war on terror and the war on radical islam . 
i was here yesterday fighting for a very important provision that put me against my friends on the other side of the aisle . 
but today i am asking all of my friends , on both sides of the aisle , let us be patriots . 
let us stand up for those principles that our founding fathers talked about , and that is limiting the power of government . 
what we are doing here in this motion to recommit is establishing the sunsets so that 4 years from now , hopefully when we have beaten the terrorists , we can return to normal constitutional protections , and if not , we can reestablish another situation . 
but , please , let us keep faith with those people who founded our country on limited government and the protection of civil liberties . 
vote `` yes '' on this provision . 
