[Congressional Record Volume 151, Number 91 (Friday, July 1, 2005)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1419]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




TRANSPORTATION, TREASURY, HOUSING AND URBAN DEVELOPMENT, THE JUDICIARY, 
THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA, AND INDEPENDENT AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS ACT, 
                                  2006

                                 ______
                                 

                               speech of

                        HON. BENNIE G. THOMPSON

                             of mississippi

                    in the house of representatives

                        Wednesday, June 29, 2005

       The House in Committee of the Whole House on the State of 
     the Union had under consideration the bill (H.R. 3058) making 
     appropriations for the Departments of Transportation, 
     Treasury, and Housing and Urban Development, the Judiciary, 
     District of Columbia, and independent agencies for the fiscal 
     year ending September 30, 2006, and for other purposes:
  Mr. THOMPSON of Mississippi. Mr. Chairman, I rise today in support of 
this Amendment that would properly fund the government-wide Privacy and 
Civil Liberties Oversight Board.
  In the wake of 9/11, many Americans have grown concerned that 
sweeping new law enforcement powers adopted to bolster national 
security may, in fact, be eroding the civil liberties that they were 
intended to protect.
  The freedoms we enjoy as Americans--indeed, our way of life--are at 
risk if our government can spy and gather information on us simply 
under the guise of protecting those freedoms.
  I know too well what happens when a government is left unchecked in 
its surveillance and spying efforts. While I was in college, I attended 
a speech given by Martin Luther King, Jr. My government responded by 
creating an FBI file on me. It seems like a whole generation of 
innocent Americans are at risk of having files created on them.
  Those of us in Congress tried to address potential governmental 
violation of civil liberties by creating a Civil Liberties Board as 
part of the 9/11 bill passed last December. This board was created in 
response to the 
9/11 Commission's concerns that the government lacked ``an enhanced 
system of checks and balances to protect the precious liberties that 
are vital to our way of life.'' We intended the Board to be the 
mechanism by which civil liberties and privacy considerations would be 
elevated throughout and within the Federal Government and its myriad 
operations and programs.
  The President supported and signed the bill. And then failed to fund 
it less than two months later. He has failed to fund critical border 
and aviation initiatives contained in the bill. And he has failed to 
fully fund the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board, giving it a mere 
$750,000. This lack of funding for a Board--which, by the way, he took 
almost 6 months to name Members for--suggests a lack of serious 
commitment to the preservation of civil liberties and privacy rights.
  Too often, this White House has chosen to simply ignore that which it 
doesn't like.
  Congress didn't vote to ask the Administration to think about having 
a privacy and civil liberties board. On the contrary, it voted to 
establish the Board and then gave the White House the power to fund it 
in a bill that the President said he supported.
  Without an adequate budget, however, the Board is only a shell--a 
powerless entity unequipped to accomplish the goals envisioned for it 
by the 9/11 Commission.
  Funding the Civil Liberties Board will fulfill our commitment to 
protect the rights of all Americans as our Nation battles against 
domestic and international terrorism.
  I strongly urge my colleagues to join in support of this amendment.

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