[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 80 (Thursday, June 16, 2005)]
[House]
[Pages H4566-H4567]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




   REPUBLICANS SILENCE OPPOSITION TO PATRIOT ACT IN COMMITTEE HEARING

  (Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Ms. WASSERMAN SCHULTZ. Mr. Speaker, while we are on the subject of 
arrogance, as a new Member of the House Committee on the Judiciary, the 
Republican majority, I noticed, has become so arrogant that they are 
now attempting to silence even the opposition from the minority party, 
preventing us from giving any opposing testimony.
  The latest abuse comes from the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. 
Sensenbrenner), the chairman of the Committee on the Judiciary. As the 
committee prepares to vote on the reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act, 
Chairman Sensenbrenner has conducted 12 hearings on the issue, but has 
refused to allow almost any testimony from those who oppose the PATRIOT 
Act or its provisions.
  Opposing testimony was allowed only after the gentleman from Michigan 
(Mr. Conyers) used the rules of the committee to force the chairman to 
hold a hearing that included Democratic panelists. Clearly miffed by 
this action, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Chairman Sensenbrenner) 
scheduled the hearing for just 18 hours later on a Friday morning when 
the House was not even in session. And that is not the worst of it.
  During the actual hearing, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Chairman 
Sensenbrenner) rudely cut opposition voices off, and then abruptly and 
unilaterally concluded the hearing without a vote of the committee. 
After Democrats called a point of order, he gaveled the hearing to a 
close and left the room. When Democrats continued to voice their 
opposition, he turned the microphones off. When that did not stop them, 
he turned the lights off in the room.
  Mr. Speaker, when are Republicans going to realize that the minority 
voice is an important one?

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