[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2780]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      RENEWAL OF U.S. 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 we have frozen $136 million in terrorists' assets.
  Reauthorizing 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 now share data between the 
intelligence community and the law enforcement community? Is it not 
common sense that we track deadly terrorists, even though they cross 
jurisdictional lines or switch cell phones?
  I am pleased that the Senate recently voted 89-10 to reauthorize the 
PATRIOT Act. This legislation provides 30 new civil liberty safeguards 
and strengthens our port security by providing law enforcement 
authorities with new authority to secure our ports.
  I urge my colleagues to vote ``yes'' on the PATRIOT Act.

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