[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 156 (Tuesday, October 16, 2007)]
[House]
[Pages H11554-H11555]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




         OVERREACTING TO AN OVEREXAGGERATED THREAT OF TERRORISM

  (Mr. DUNCAN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. DUNCAN. Madam Speaker, we all want to do what we should to fight

[[Page H11555]]

terrorism, but the Federal Government has to do many other things, too. 
The Wall Street Journal editorial said: ``We would like to suggest a 
new post-September 11 rule for Congress. Any bill with the words 
``security'' in it should get double the public scrutiny and maybe four 
times the normal wait, lest all kinds of bad legislation become law 
under the phony guise of fighting terrorism.''
  More significantly, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff 
testified in front of a congressional committee: ``We should not let an 
overexaggerated threat of terrorism drive us crazy, into bankruptcy, 
trying to defend against every conceivable threat.'' He went on to say: 
``We do have limits, and we do have choices to make. We don't want to 
break the very systems we're trying to protect. We don't want to 
destroy our way of life trying to save it. We don't want to undercut 
our economy trying to protect our economy, and we don't want to destroy 
our civil liberties and our freedoms in order to make ourselves 
safer.''

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