[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 2]
[House]
[Page 2587]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       ON DEFENDING OUR CITIZENS

  (Mr. HOLT asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. HOLT. Mr. Speaker, almost before the ink was dry on the February 
22 letter to Intelligence Chairman Reyes claiming that the 
telecommunications companies were balking at their surveillance support 
requests, the DNI and Attorney General were forced to admit that the 
companies were, in fact, cooperating with the U.S. Government 
surveillance activities. It is not simple patriotic duty; it's the law. 
They must cooperate. Under FISA, if they're compelled to cooperate, 
they are automatically provided immunity.
  The truth is that the only time FISA phone taps have been turned off 
lately is when the President failed to pay the FBI phone bills. If you 
don't believe me, look at the Inspector General's report of the 
Department of Justice in 2008 this year.
  The real issue before us is this: How do we produce law that provides 
us better intelligence and safeguards Americans' liberties? The answer 
is we've done it through the RESTORE Act, and the sooner that House-
passed bill becomes the law of the land, the better. Requiring the 
government to apply to a court and demonstrate to a standard of 
probable cause that they know what they're doing not only protects the 
liberty of Americans, it produces better intelligence.

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