[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 155 (2009), Part 7]
[House]
[Page 9150]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                      REAUTHORIZE THE PATRIOT ACT

  (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, FBI Director Mueller in his recent 
testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee urged Congress to renew 
what he called exceptional intelligence-gathering tools. Earlier this 
month, I introduced legislation to do just that.
  The Safe and Secure America Act extends for 10 years the sunset on 
two expiring PATRIOT Act provisions: Roving wiretaps, and Foreign 
Intelligence Surveillance Act business records.
  Director Mueller reports that obtaining business records ``has been 
exceptionally helpful in our national security investigations.''
  And the roving wiretap authority means that agents are no longer 
required to obtain a separate warrant for each phone, cell phone, or 
device a suspect uses.
  I hope Director Mueller and the administration will ensure that these 
critical national security tools are reauthorized and kept in place.

                          ____________________