[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16395]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      PATRIOT ACT REAUTHORIZATION

  (Mrs. BLACKBURN asked and was given permission to address the House 
for 1 minute and to revise and extend her remarks.)
  Mrs. BLACKBURN. Mr. Speaker, one of the things we have learned since 
September 11 is that legislation like the PATRIOT Act is absolutely 
necessary, so I want to commend the chairman of the Committee on the 
Judiciary, the gentleman from Wisconsin (Mr. Sensenbrenner), and the 
committee itself for working to prepare legislation reauthorizing the 
PATRIOT Act.
  I was disappointed to learn that many of the Democrats opposed the 
legislation in committee, especially in light of the London bombings. 
Prior to September 11, this country did not have the legal and 
intelligence infrastructure necessary to pursue terrorist cells 
operating on our own soil. Republicans in Congress said never again, 
and we took action to be sure that our police and intelligence agencies 
were working together to prevent terrorism. The PATRIOT Act should be 
reauthorized with overwhelming bipartisan support.
  I hope Democrats will finally realize we cannot afford to be soft on 
terrorism here at home and will join Republicans in supporting this 
bill when it comes to the House floor.

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