[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 33 (Thursday, February 28, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H1158]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




ON FISA, PRESIDENT AND REPUBLICANS PLAY POLITICS WITH NATIONAL SECURITY

  (Mr. YARMUTH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. YARMUTH. Mr. Speaker, President Bush is out of new ideas. 
Instead, all he has left is blatant fear-mongering, a strategy that his 
administration has elevated to an art form.
  This time, it's the expiration of his Protect America Act that has 
the President warning of dire consequences, even though his own 
administration admits that our intelligence community continues to have 
every tool it needs. Fortunately, the American people are not buying 
into the administration's latest scare tactics.
  It's pretty difficult for the President to now decry the act's 
expiration when he threatened to veto a 21-day extension earlier this 
month. If the law was so critical to national security, you would think 
that the President and congressional Republicans would have done 
everything in their power to ensure that it didn't expire.
  If Washington Republicans were seriously concerned about the future 
of the FISA program, you would think they would want a seat at the 
table as important negotiations continue. Instead, both the 
administration and Republican leaders have refused to negotiate.
  Mr. Speaker, no wonder the scare tactics aren't working.

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