mr. speaker , let me thank my friend from georgia for yielding me this time .  i listened very , very closely to the remarks offered by my good friend from massachusetts ( mr. mcgovern )  and i have to say that every member of this house is committed to the national security of the united states .  that is our number one responsibility , our priority .  but i will go so far as to say every single member of this house is committed to recognizing the civil liberties of the american people .  when this issue came to the forefront just a few weeks after september 11 , 2001 , the now director of the central intelligence agency , former chairman of the house intelligence committee and vice chairman of the rules committee , our very good friend , mr. goss , argued that he believed we should begin with permanence at that point , and i argued then that i thought it important that we focus on sunsetting provisions in the usa patriot act .  why ?  because we were looking at this issue literally weeks after the worst attack on our soil .  so , mr. speaker , as we moved ahead , we said we should have these sunset provisions , and we put them into place , and they were very important and helpful .  one of the reasons we did it is we wanted to see what kinds of civil liberties were being violated as we focused on our number one priority , that being our national security .  and i am very happy to report that , as we look at what has transpired since implementation of the usa patriot act , it is the following : we have provided every opportunity for any american to raise concern , talk about violations of their civil liberties by going on the worldwide web , filing any kind of complaint .  and there has not been one instance , not one complaint has been leveled , against the provisions in the usa patriot act as evidence of violating civil liberties .  i consider myself a small `` l '' libertarian republican .  i want to do everything in my power to ensure that we recognize the rights of our individuals .  but we have to remember that this measure is exactly what mr. mcgovern  said it should be .  it is a delicate balancing act between our goal of recognizing the importance of our national security and at the same time focusing on civil liberties .  that is why we see the 4-year sunset for the so-called lone wolf provision , for the roving wiretap provision , for the so-called library provision .  these measures that are in there are designed to force us to look at them again .  but , mr. speaker , there is nothing to say that we can not look at this again , as one of my staff members just said to me , next week if we so choose .  now , the united states congress pursues oversight with great diligence .  i was shocked last night when the distinguished ranking member of the rules committee said that there had been no oversight by the judiciary committee of the usa patriot act .  and chairman sensenbrenner , who has done a phenomenal job on this , went through the litany of oversight hearings that have gone on between first implementation of the usa patriot act and today and will continue , will continue as we see this measure pass .  so , mr. speaker , i believe that this does create that fine balancing act that we have recognized , and we do know that at the same time sacrifices have been made .  every single american who travels today has made a sacrifice , because of the fact that we are in the midst of a global war on terror , by virtue of going through the security to get on an airplane .  we have had to make sacrifices .  professor harvey mansfield of harvard wrote about the need to make those sacrifices when we are in the midst of war .  and we know that this is an ongoing global war on terror ; but we can not , as we pursue that war , move to undermine the great liberties and rights of the american people .  this measure strikes that balance , and i urge my colleagues to support the rule and to support the underlying bill .  