[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 12]
[House]
[Page 16897]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                              PATRIOT ACT

  (Mr. KELLER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute.)
  Mr. KELLER. Mr. Speaker, reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act today is 
literally a matter of life or death because it is helping us to win the 
war on terrorism. Since we passed the PATRIOT Act in 2001 we have 
convicted 212 terrorists and $136 million in terrorist assets have been 
frozen. Passing the PATRIOT Act is purely a matter of common sense.
  Is it not common sense that we give law enforcement the same tools to 
go after terrorists as they now have to go after Mafia dons and drug 
dealers?
  Is it not common sense that we can share data between the 
intelligence community and law enforcement now?
  Is it not common sense that we track deadly terrorists even though 
they cross jurisdictional lines or switch cell phones?
  The worst thing that the critics can say about the PATRIOT Act is 
that supposedly law abiding citizens will have their bookstore and 
library habits monitored. That is a totally bogus allegation. You must 
go before a Federal judge, get a court order and prove that it is a 
matter of international terrorism. How many times has that happened 
since we passed the PATRIOT Act? Exactly zero, according to our 
Attorney General.
  I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the PATRIOT Act.

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