mr. speaker , i thank the gentleman for yielding me time . 
mr. speaker , i rise in strong opposition to this conference report . 
all of us are in agreement that the united states government must do everything it can do to effectively fight terrorism and protect the american people from another terrorist attack . 
there is no debate about that . 
but some of us believe that with strong , well-trained and well-funded law enforcement , we can in fact protect the american people without undermining the constitutional rights that make us a free country . 
in that regard , i am happy to say that there has been a very strong coming together of members of congress and americans from very different political perspectives , people who usually agree on nothing but who have come together to protect the constitutional rights of the american people as we fight terrorism . 
we should be very proud that , on this issue , such diverse groups as the aclu , the american conservative union , the gun owners of america , the u.s. chamber of commerce , the american library association and the american book sellers association have come together to say to congress , please support the senate version . 
and this is a message that i hope all members heed . 
the simple fact of the matter is that the original senate bill is a far better piece of legislation than what we are looking at today , and that is the legislation that we should pass . 
mr. speaker , day after day , we hear the republican leadership telling us about the virtues of small and limited government , about how we have got to deregulate almost everything and get government out of our lives . 
in that regard , are my republican friends really comfortable with allowing the fbi to access americans ' reading records , gun records , medical records and financial records without judicial approval ; allowing the fbi to search someone 's home without probable cause and without telling that person about the search ; allowing the fbi to serve a librarian or a bookstore owner with a section 215 order demanding records without having to provide facts that a person whose records are being sought is involved in a terrorist investigation ? 
please vote no on this conference report . 
