mr. speaker , i appreciate the gentlewoman from new york yielding me time . 
mr. speaker , i rise in opposition to this rule . 
frederick douglass once said , `` the life of a nation is secure only while the nation is honest , truthful and virtuous. '' i have heard a lot of comments the last few weeks from folks saying this bill is needed for the war on terrorism . 
the way they talk about it sounds like our nation might fall to pieces without it . 
as the ranking member on the committee on homeland security and someone who has seen firsthand what our government is and is not doing to keep us safe at home , i am here to set the record straight . 
the bill today is about eliminating the sunsets of a handful of provisions in the patriot act and the 9/11 bill . 
some of these provisions are untested and we do not know how helpful they are because the president has not provided information . 
others , such as the library snooping provision , have never even been used , according to the administration . 
how good of a terrorism fighting tool is it if it has not been part of our war on terror yet ? 
i am disappointed that our colleagues on the other side of the aisle refused to allow an amendment offered to extend the sunsets for a few years . 
extending them will allow the president to use them , but at the same time hold them accountable for their use . 
the sunsets are critical in keeping this administration honest and truthful in its efforts to protect our nation . 
anyway , is the goal here today to protect americans from terrorism at home ? 
the attack on london 2 weeks ago was a wake-up call , yet the administration did not expand our own nation 's efforts to protect our transit system . 
the nation lacks a transportation security plan for protecting its 30 million daily commuters . 
it was due in congress 3 months ago . 
today london was attacked again . 
it is time for the administration to stop hitting the snooze button . 
let us give transit security the attention it needs . 
let us not confuse the bill today with the real efforts to protect our nation against terrorism . 
if we ask americans , they will prefer congress to protect subways or buses . 
mr. speaker , let us get it right . 
let us protect americans at home from real terrorist threats . 
