[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 30 (Monday, February 25, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H1005]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




               PROTECT AMERICA ACT MUST BE MADE PERMANENT

  (Ms. FOXX asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Ms. FOXX. Madam Speaker, it has been more than a week since the House 
left town without voting on critical intelligence legislation. This 
bipartisan legislation would have permanently fixed the Foreign 
Intelligence Surveillance Act, FISA, and enabled our intelligence 
community to monitor effectively foreign terrorists in electronic 
communications.
  A 6-month fix to FISA, the Protect America Act, expired on February 
17. It had allowed our intelligence agencies to monitor foreign 
terrorists' electronic communications on foreign soil without time-
consuming court orders. But the House refused to take up the bill that 
passed the Senate with broad bipartisan support by a vote of 68-29. 
More than 20 Democrats voted in favor of this legislation to make the 
Protect America Act permanent. By refusing to consider this 
legislation, the House is embarking on an act of reckless 
irresponsibility.
  America cannot afford to hit pause on our surveillance of foreign 
terrorists. Now that the Protect America Act has expired, our 
intelligence community faces cumbersome bureaucratic hurdles to 
monitoring the communication of suspected foreign terrorists. This 
paper-pushing approach takes precious time, which could mean the 
difference in thwarting the terrorists' plans or even protecting the 
lives of our troops.
  We must pass this bill now. The votes are there. Not acting endangers 
our Nation's security and puts barriers in the way of fighting radical 
terrorists. This bill has broad bipartisan support, and refusing to 
allow it to come up for a vote amounts to putting the so-called civil 
liberties of terrorists before the safety of all Americans.

                          ____________________