mr. speaker , i rise in support of this motion .  after 9/11 , the united states congress gave our investigative agencies a wide variety of special powers to fight a war on terrorism , an expansion of powers that we would have never approved in peacetime .  this included the right to break into homes of american citizens without court order , seize documents , copy computer files , and evidence without ever telling the owner .  we gave our agencies , among those other things , the right to wiretap and intercept phone and computer communications without prior cause , and in general we lowered the requirement for lawful searches .  i supported this dramatic expansion of federal power because our country was at war .  in times of emergency , it is responsible to increase the power of our government , yet we recognize that these powers should contain sunset provisions .  the first patriot act had 16 of its sections sunsetted , so after the emergency was over the government would again return to a level consistent to a free society .  our republic was founded on the idea that the powers of government should be limited .  we should not be required to live in peacetime under the extraordinary laws that were passed during times of war and crisis .  emergency powers of investigation should not become the standard once the crisis has passed .  i am seriously concerned about the use of emergency conditions to permanently alter our constitutional legal rights .  until now , the members of this body have been denied the ability to vote their conscience on the issue of sunsets .  now , each of us will have that opportunity .  it is not a republican vote , it is not a democrat vote .  i support this war on terror and the war on radical islam .  i was here yesterday fighting for a very important provision that put me against my friends on the other side of the aisle .  but today i am asking all of my friends , on both sides of the aisle , let us be patriots .  let us stand up for those principles that our founding fathers talked about , and that is limiting the power of government .  what we are doing here in this motion to recommit is establishing the sunsets so that 4 years from now , hopefully when we have beaten the terrorists , we can return to normal constitutional protections , and if not , we can reestablish another situation .  but , please , let us keep faith with those people who founded our country on limited government and the protection of civil liberties .  vote `` yes '' on this provision .  