[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 151 (2005), Part 14]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 19407]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




 IN RECOGNITION OF H.R. 3199: USA PATRIOT ACT AND TERRORISM PREVENTION 
                      REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2005

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. NYDIA M. VELAZQUEZ

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                         Friday, July 29, 2005

  Ms. VELAZQUEZ. Mr. Speaker, I rise in strong opposition to this 
measure which expands expiring provisions of the Patriot Act by 
granting unlimited investigative powers to our government. This bill 
gives the government broad powers to secretly collect personal 
information on medical, library and business and financial records of 
our Nation's citizens. Additionally, this legislation sunsets 
provisions that are not about combating terrorism or making us safer, 
but about intruding upon our privacy and infringing upon our civil 
liberties.
  Mr. Chairman, there is no limit to these surveillance and 
intelligence powers once they are given to our government. There are no 
guarantees to the American people that our Nation will be more stable 
and secure by enforcing these policies, which allow the government to 
conduct secret searches of your home or office--the so-called sneak and 
peek warrant--for an indefinite period of time. Our country takes great 
pride in upholding the true values of our constitution and freedom. 
However, these provisions certainly contradict these beliefs and, more 
importantly, the checks and balances intended to safeguard our liberty.
  We must understand that neither the original USA PATRIOT Act, nor 
this legislation, have been subject to the proper oversight. We have 
evidence that the repercussions of the original Patriot Act has led to 
abusive powers by this Administration. Since the September 11th 
attacks, our government has detained and verbally and physically abused 
thousands of immigrants, without time limits, for unknown and 
unspecified reasons, and targeted the Arab-American community for 
intensive interrogations and immigration screenings.
  A clear example of this happened in my Congressional district at the 
Metropolitan Detention Center where 84 detainees where mistreated under 
the conditions of confinement. This mistreatment was reported and 
documented by the Department of Justice where it has acknowledged the 
abuses which were documented by the Inspector General. I clearly 
recognize the outrage of terrorist attacks and the need to heighten our 
Nation's security--but not at the expense of undermining our freedom 
and our democratic values and ideals.
  We have not been given the actual facts or had the time to accurately 
evaluate the ramifications of many of these provisions. Reauthorizing a 
bill which lacks oversights and expands provisions that violate the 
privacy of our citizens is undermining the American public's civil 
rights and misleading our Nation.
  This bill fails to protect our Nation and, our civil liberties. It 
strikes the essence of our checks and balances, subjects individuals to 
repeated abuse and violates the confidentiality of our personal 
records. This is plain wrong. If we want to fight terrorism, let's do 
it the right way, by providing the adequate resources and funding to 
our homeland security and our local enforcement, by being consistent 
with our democracy and our true values and principles, I urge my 
colleagues to vote no on the underlying bill.

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