mr. chairman , i thank the gentlewoman from california for yielding me this time . 
i rise in support of the paul amendment and , in addition , in reluctant opposition to h.r. 3199 for several reasons . 
following the terrorist attacks of september 11 , i watched as members of congress came together in a bipartisan effort to craft legislation which would , it was argued , strengthen law enforcement 's hand in fighting terrorists . 
americans from across the political spectrum were willing to sacrifice some of the freedoms we cherish to immediately address security concerns , with the understanding that many provisions would be revisited and the civil liberty protections that we all hold so dear would be addressed . 
but by making these provisions permanent , without mandatory congressional review , we placed the very democracy that we hold so dear in jeopardy . 
when restricting civil liberties , we should be extremely careful about forfeiting those freedoms without reviewing the ongoing need to continue to restrict them . 
in these contemporary times , it may be difficult for us to conceive of the barbarous proceedings of the salem witch trials . 
indeed , they continue to perplex and horrify those of us who came later . 
but imagine if those perceptions and resulting actions were somehow a permanent part of our society today without an opportunity for review as to their validity ? 
if they were , under the patriot act 's intrusive infringement on america 's book purchases and library records , when the most recent episode in the harry potter book series was released last friday , we would have had hundreds of thousands of children `` burned at the stake. '' and i know this analogy might seem a bit extreme , but that is just how extreme things can become without proper checks and balances when restricting our civil liberties and freedoms , which is why we should support the paul amendment , because true freedom of expression is an important thing to preserve . 
i am hopeful that when this legislation comes back from conference that we will have a product that we can all embrace , but today i will vote for freedom . 
i will support the paul amendment and i will vote against final passage of this version of the bill . 
