[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 5]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 6499]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




INTRODUCTION OF INDEPENDENT COMMISSION TO INVESTIGATE NSA EAVESDROPPING

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                         HON. JOHN CONYERS, JR.

                              of michigan

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 27, 2006

  Mr. CONYERS. Mr. Speaker, it has been 4 months since this Congress 
became aware of the NSA's secret surveillance activities, yet no 
Committee has held thorough and independent investigations into the 
program.
  Before we legislate on this issue and give the Executive 
unprecedented and sweeping new authorities to conduct surveillance on 
Americans not suspected of terrorist activity, we must understand the 
true nature of the program, how effective it is, and whether it is even 
constitutional.
  To that end, I am introducing the attached bill that will create an 
independent commission, evenly divided between Democrats and 
Republicans in the House and the Senate, to answer such questions.
  I hope that my colleagues will put politics aside and do what we did 
in the 1970s when we found out that the Nixon administration was 
wiretapping Americans without warrants: conduct a thorough and 
independent investigation of all the relevant facts.

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