[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 84 (Wednesday, June 22, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1313]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                            USA PATRIOT ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                       HON. C.L. ``BUTCH'' OTTER

                                of idaho

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 22, 2005

  Mr. OTTER. Mr. Speaker, please allow me to express my great respect 
and support for the manner in which Chairman Sensenbrenner managed the 
recent hearings of the House Committee on the Judiciary regarding the 
USA PATRIOT Act. His resolve in following the rules while providing as 
much flexibility as possible in the face of often partisan and 
inflammatory rhetoric was a credit to his leadership, and was precisely 
what was needed in this deliberative process.
  There are legitimate criticisms to be made of the PATRIOT Act, and I 
have been among those maintaining that ensuring a greater balance of 
judicial oversight and adherence to the spirit as well as the letter of 
our constitutional protections would enhance its usefulness. However, 
associating the PATRIOT Act with what may occur in a prisoner of war 
camp or other well intentioned but illegal or inhumane action--as some 
members and witnesses have done--is a disservice to the process and to 
those who wish to keep the debate focused on improving the law, not 
destroying it.
  As the House continues deliberating reauthorization of the PATRIOT 
Act, it is my goal to restore balance to the branches of our Federal 
government, secure the people in their homes and personal affects, and 
renew the promise of our Founders. That will not be accomplished by 
blaming the law for the real or alleged behavior of individual acting 
outside this or any other law. I will not stand idly by while some who 
wish not to rein in but rather to eviscerate the PATRIOT Act, or to use 
it as a political cudgel, use some of the very tactics we have 
professed to fear in the law itself in order to bring public ridicule 
and professional discredit to either Chairman Sensenbrenner or the 
Judiciary Committee.
  In closing, Mr. Speaker, I wish to remind us all of the words of 
George Washington, uttered as a promise of the faith he had in our 
political system, this great Republic and those who govern:

       If, to please the people, we offer what we ourselves 
     disprove, how can we afterwards defend our work? Let us raise 
     a standard to which the wise and the honest can repair. The 
     event is in the hand of God.

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