[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 3]
[House]
[Pages 3198-3199]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                 PROVIDING THE TOOLS TO PROTECT AMERICA

  (Mr. BOUSTANY asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. BOUSTANY. Mr. Speaker, for more than 2 weeks, our national 
intelligence community has lacked the capability to track terrorists 
quickly. Despite the known threats against this Nation, the House 
Democratic leadership has said there's no urgency on updating our 
Nation's intelligence laws. The FISA law dates back to the Carter 
administration, and that was almost 30 years ago, and they argue we 
should not update the law now?
  It's no coincidence that the United States has been free from attack 
at home since September 11, 2001. Violent extremist terrorists are a 
threat, and that threat must be stopped. Congress must give our 
intelligence officers the tools and techniques they need to meet the 
long-term challenges.
  Two weeks have passed since our national security community lost the 
ability to track intelligence without going through slow and burdensome 
bureaucratic hurdles. That's more than 2 weeks of terrorist 
communications that will never be recovered.
  I am committed to providing responsible and appropriate tools to our 
intelligence community to protect and defend Americans at home and 
abroad. I urge my colleagues to do the same and pass the bipartisan 
FISA bill today.

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