[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 167 (Wednesday, October 31, 2007)]
[House]
[Page H12348]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                                  FISA

  (Mr. McDERMOTT asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. McDERMOTT. Mr. Speaker, we've been here before. In the 1920s, 
America spied on its citizens and arrested thousands because they 
advocated for change. In the 1950s, America black-listed innocent 
Americans whose only crime was to run afoul of Senator Joe McCarthy. In 
the 1970s, America illegally spied on people in the civil rights and 
the Vietnam antiwar movements, including Dr. Martin Luther King.
  The transgressions were so egregious that a courageous Senator Frank 
Church from Idaho led a search for truth and affirmation of freedom. In 
the end, the Congress passed FISA, the Foreign Intelligence 
Surveillance Act. FISA provides a swift and certain means for America 
to meet any threat without threatening America's freedoms. But this 
administration seems it cannot defend America without demolishing 
America's freedoms.
  The President wants the Congress to undermine FISA with new 
legislation that would make it easy to spy on any American, just like 
the 1920s, the 1950s and the 1970s. These are not the good old days, 
and I oppose any attempt to use fear to subvert freedom.
  We can keep America safe without sacrificing America in the process. 
I urge my colleagues to remember why FISA was created and why we should 
not neuter it in the near future.

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