[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 33 (Thursday, February 28, 2008)]
[House]
[Page H1171]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                STATUS OF INTELLIGENCE SURVEILLANCE BILL

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the 
gentleman from Maryland (Mr. Hoyer) is recognized for 5 minutes.
  Mr. HOYER. I was not planning to speak, but the previous speaker has 
done what this administration did a little earlier today and has been 
doing over the days. We call it fear-mongering, trying to stampede this 
Congress into doing something that is contrary to our oath of office to 
protect the Constitution of the United States as well as defend our 
Nation from those who would harm our citizens and our country.
  The gentleman's assertion that the intelligence community is not able 
to intercept communications to protect our country is not true. Anybody 
who heard his words and was concerned by his representations ought to 
be disabused of the fact of the accuracy of his assertions. In fact, 
the administration said that in a letter, a six-page letter, and within 
hours sent out an e-mail saying, No, we're wrong. Telephone companies 
are cooperating with us. We are able to intercept communications.
  But what he also did not mention is that we passed a bill 2\1/2\ 
months ago, now 3 months ago, which would have provided the full 
authority the administration needed to continue doing what they needed 
to do. Without exception. Secondly, what he failed to say is that when 
the Senate failed to act for those 3 months, it was because the 
Republican Party in the Senate precluded that bill from moving forward. 
But he didn't represent that. And then they sent us the bill 2 days 
before a break was to be scheduled. That was considered, in my opinion, 
to try to preclude any further discussion on the issue. They believed 
they could do that by then appealing to the concerns, rightful 
concerns, of the American public that we continued to do everything 
necessary to keep them safe. That's the commitment of all 435 Members 
of this House. It's my commitment. I speak on behalf of my party, as 
majority leader of my party, with respect to that issue. Every Member 
wants to ensure.
  What he did not tell you, however, was because we only had some 48 
hours of session, because we wanted to give it consideration, and 
because the normal process is to have a conference between the two 
Houses if there are differences as there are between the two pieces of 
legislation, we said to all of the Republicans and to all of the 
Democrats, let us extend by 21 days the Protect America Act so that 
there is no question.
  What the gentleman from Georgia did not tell you is that every 
Republican person voted against that extension. They voted against the 
extension, and then when it did not pass, they said, Oh, America is at 
risk. It is like the child who killed both his parents and said, Have 
pity on me. I'm an orphan. They refused to pass the very legislation 
which would have kept the act that they say is necessary in full 
effect.
  The good news is that we have a statute on the books called the 
Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act which provides the administration 
with every authority it needs, but what it requires the administration 
to do is come to the FISA Court and get approval. There is no backlog 
in that court. Not a second's backlog in that court. And administration 
officials have said we would not miss a beat in terms of our 
interception of communications. Administration officials have said that 
within minutes approval could be granted, and under the FISA Act, the 
administration can act and then get approval after the fact. So I'm not 
sure what the generals were talking about.
  What the gentleman from Georgia did not mention as well is that we 
have been working every day since we left session on trying to reach a 
compromise so that we could move forward on this bill. We had a meeting 
this day to do that very thing, a meeting which was bipartisan. We had 
the administration involved. We are hopeful that we can reach 
agreement.
  So I want to assure the American public that the leadership of this 
House is going to do everything in our power to ensure that we protect 
this Nation and our people and to defeat those who fashion themselves 
to be radical Islamic jihadist terrorists and ensure that they will be 
stopped, they will be caught, and that we will prevail in this war on 
terrorism.

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