[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2462]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                   PASS THE SENATE INTELLIGENCE BILL

  (Mr. SMITH of Texas asked and was given permission to address the 
House for 1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. SMITH of Texas. Mr. Speaker, the Democratic majority's decision 
to ignore the requests of our intelligence community has endangered our 
national security. Why do House Democrats refuse to give the 
intelligence community the tools they need to protect American lives?
  A strong bipartisan bill passed the Senate by a vote of 68-29. The 
bill also was supported by the administration, the intelligence 
community, as well as the majority of Members of the House. Yet the 
Democrats' leaders refused to bring the bill up for a vote.
  Congress has no greater responsibility than to ensure that our 
intelligence-gathering laws are strong and our Nation is safe from 
future attacks. Let's hope, for the sake of our country, the Democratic 
leaders will decide before it's too late to pass the bipartisan Senate 
bill.

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