[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 13]
[House]
[Page 17823]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                           FIGHTING TERRORISM

  (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, last night our President gave a prime 
time address for the remembrance of September 11, and I know the media 
is working overtime right now criticizing that speech and saying it was 
political.
  I would suggest it is the media and not the American people who are 
fixated on that. The American people want to know what we are doing to 
make this Nation more secure. I don't think the speech was overtly 
political, but let's say for the sake of argument that it was.
  Now, Mr. Speaker, there are two political parties voting on these 
security measures, and it boils down to this: you either support the 
PATRIOT Act legislation or you don't. You either support terrorist 
surveillance and terrorist tribunals or you don't. You either support 
aggressively fighting terrorists by using our military or you don't.
  Mr. Speaker, Republicans voted for these measures. We supported them. 
And some across the aisle voted for them too; but, the liberals in the 
Democratic Party don't support these measures; and in my opinion, yes, 
that would make them weak on security. That is not a partisan political 
statement; it's the truth.

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