mr. speaker , i rise today in strong opposition to h.r. 3199 .  while this conference report makes some improvement to the current patriot act , it fails to address some major deficiencies , and in many ways , it makes the current situation worse .  the original intent of the patriot act was to provide our law enforcement officials with the necessary tools to make our country more secure .  while maintaining national security is absolutely a necessary responsibility of congress , it can and must be achieved without compromising our civil liberties .  unlike the proponents of h.r. 3199 , the american people do not believe that security and liberty are mutually exclusive goals .  a delicate balance between enhancing security and protecting liberty needs to be present .  but unfortunately , this bill before us today falls far short to achieving this appropriate balance .  mr. speaker , back in 2001 , when the patriot act was enacted , 16 provisions were sunsetted or authorized for a certain period of time because of their controversial nature and also due to the hurried manner in which they were drafted ; 14 of these 16 provisions are made permanent by this conference report .  and while three of the most contentious provisions have been sunsetted for 4 years , even that is too long .  section 215 , commonly referred to as the library records provision , grossly expands the federal government 's ability to seize records and investigate citizens ' reading habits without any notification .  section 206 , dubbed the roving wiretaps provision , grants the government the power to perform so-called john doe wiretaps in which they do not have to disclose the phones that will be tapped or even the names of the suspected person .  section 6001 , known as the lone wolf provision , broadly redefines the foreign intelligence surveillance act 's , fisa , standard for the agent of foreign power .  the new definition is so expansive that the government can now define any individual non-u.s. person as a terrorist suspect , even if the individual has no clear ties to a foreign government .  mr. speaker , it is more than apparent that these three provisions pose a threat to american citizens ' civil liberties .  and while i would rather see these provisions removed from the legislation , i am encouraged that a shorter sunset has been placed upon them .  but , unfortunately , mr. speaker , shorter sunsets do not do the trick .  sunsets alone do not fix the severe substantive flaws of these sections , and they do nothing to address the deficiencies of the 14 other provisions that are being made permanent by this report .  instead of opting to apply shorter sunset dates to these misguided provisions , congress should be exploring appropriate ways to fix them .  after all , giving the government the power to violate civil liberties is wrong regardless of whether we give the government that power for 1 year or 4 years or for 100 years .  most notable of the deficient provisions , which was made permanent by the original patriot act , is section 505 , known as the national security letters provision , nsls .  these nsls are administrative subpoenas , issued by high-ranking department of justice officials , which force a person to turn over a wide range of personal records .  essentially , nsls allow the fbi to conduct secret , warrantless searches of any records they deem relevant to national security .  what is most concerning about nsls are the rate in which they are being issued and the eventual relevancy of the retrieved records .  more than 30 , 000 nsls are being issued a year , a hundred-fold increase since the enactment of the patriot act .  meanwhile , only a handful of nsl investigations have ever gone through the judicial process .  moreover , the fbi has surreptitiously gathered information on tens of thousands of americans .  they are maintaining databases on these citizens .  and instead of deleting information on nsl recipients once an investigation is completed , the fbi is abusing this power and holding onto personal information of americans who have never been accused of any crime .  mr. speaker , while this conference report does require the department of justice to report the number of national security letters they issue , it fails to address the abuse of power and the unconstitutionality of the provision .  as determined by a federal court judge on october 4 , 2005 , the nsl provision was ruled to be unconstitutional .  so instead of reevaluating this provision or at the very least sunsetting it , the nsl provision remains permanent and continues to infringe upon the civil liberties of the american people .  mr. speaker , we all must be reminded that privacy is a right guaranteed by our constitution , not a luxury that we can simply discard when it becomes inconvenient to the government .  shorter sunsets and minimal regulations imposed on the department of justice do not cure the serious problems with these provisions .  congress needs to go back to the negotiating table , reevaluate these provisions , and come up with a report that strikes the appropriate balance between advancing security and defending our civil rights .  that is why , mr. speaker , i am a cosponsor of h.r. 4506 .  this legislation , introduced by the ranking member of the judiciary committee , mr. conyers , extends by 3 months the 16 provisions of the patriot act set to expire at the end of this year .  extending the patriot act in its current form for 3 months would give lawmakers the opportunity to reevaluate these contentious provisions , fix them , and then issue a conference report that actually protects the civil liberties of the people of this country and not hinders them .  i would like to share a quote from an article entitled `` going down in history with usa patriot act , '' which appeared in the november 27 edition of the massachusetts republican : `` unless lawmakers are prepared to revise the usa patriot act to include modest protections to safeguard civil liberties , they will go down in history as the authors of remarkably bad legislation. '' mr. speaker , when we in congress authorize federal agencies , it is our responsibility to grant them with an appropriate level of power so that abuse will not occur .  it is also our responsibility to demand accountability and conduct appropriate oversight .  sadly , under this republican leadership , neither responsibility has been fulfilled .  one final observation .  we are all , every single member of this house is committed to protecting our country from terrorism .  we must adjust our laws accordingly to deal with any potential threat .  but we must not undercut or undermine the protection of our civil liberties .  mr. speaker , democracy requires courage , and we can protect our citizens from terrorism and at the same time protect their civil liberties .  they are not mutually exclusive .  i am not convinced that the bill as written will enhance our national security , nor am i convinced that these broad , sweeping powers that we are now giving to our government will not be abused .  in our recent history , we have seen abuse of power .  we have seen civil rights leaders in this country , people who have advocated equal treatment under the law for all of our citizens , we have seen these people put under surveillance .  they have been wiretapped .  we have seen others who have raised their voices in dissent or who have advocated issues that are now viewed as the mainstream , we have seen that they have been spied upon by our own government .  so let us not give government more power than is needed .  that is my fear today , that we are going too far , that we are paving the way for abuse , and that if we enact this bill as written , a little bit of the liberty tree will die .  mr. speaker , i reserve the balance of my time .  