mr. chairman , i thank the gentleman for his leadership on this action as well as others that involve the permanent select committee on intelligence . 
i want to remind members why we are here . 
we are here because the patriot act will sunset . 
it will sunset so we can see if there were any violations of civil liberties during the time it was in effect , which will be approximately 4 years by the end of this year . 
there were over 7 , 000 alleged violations filed by the american civil liberties union , as members heard before from the gentleman from indiana . 
however , we have no violations of civil liberties under the patriot act . 
of those 7 , 000 allegations , some were under other parts of the law , but none under the patriot act . 
so what we are talking about in this bill is sort of splitting hairs . 
we have heard comments about how there is no judicial oversight for what is going on . 
there is judicial oversight for almost everything involved in the patriot act with few exceptions , like national security letters , which does require a certification of relevance before they move forward . 
we use these tools in the patriot act so we can catch terrorists and prevent acts of violence against american citizens . 
we use these same tools in other parts of the law , like when we are trying to find patent infringement , when we are trying to catch organized criminals , when we are trying to stop drug trafficking . 
this is a good law . 
i hope my colleagues will support it . 
it does protect civil liberties , and we should pass it . 
