[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 157 (2011), Part 1]
[House]
[Pages 1315-1316]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                         ``DON'T TREAD ON ME''

  (Mr. KUCINICH asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. KUCINICH. Mr. Speaker, this afternoon, the House will debate the 
extension of the Patriot Act.
  I have here a report from the latimes.com that says that FBI 
intelligence investigations have compromised the civil liberties of 
American citizens far more frequently and to a greater extent than was 
previously assumed.
  The report goes on to say that, in 2007, the Justice Department's 
Inspector General told Congress the FBI may have violated the law or 
government policy as many as 3,000 times since 2003 in the course of 
secretly collecting telephone, bank and credit card records without 
warrants--instead, using so-called ``national security'' letters that 
give them the ability to demand this kind of information and get it.
  The Patriot Act is a destructive undermining of the Constitution. We 
started this Congress off with a discussion about reading the 
Constitution. Many of us carry Constitutions with us in our pockets. 
How about today we take a stand for the Constitution to say that all 
Americans should be free from unreasonable searches and seizures and to 
make certain that the attempt to reauthorize the Patriot Act is beaten 
down.

[[Page 1316]]

  It is time that we really remember the essence of what that motto 
``don't tread on me'' means. It means you protect your liberties; you 
stand for freedom.

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