[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 159 (2013), Part 6]
[House]
[Page 8733]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




           UNACCEPTABLE VIOLATIONS OF OUR FUNDAMENTAL RIGHTS

  (Mr. MESSER asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. MESSER. Madam Speaker, ``Those who give up essential liberty to 
purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor 
safety.'' Ben Franklin uttered those words several hundred years ago, 
but his warning is still relevant today.
  Reports that the National Security Agency has been monitoring the 
phone records and Internet activities of ordinary citizens should 
concern every American.
  The President has said that these surveillance programs don't involve 
listening to people's phone calls or reading their emails. Americans 
want to believe their President. Yet his tax agency lied about 
targeting conservative groups and his Justice Department spied on 
reporters who were just doing their job.
  As a Nation, we would be wise to heed Ben Franklin's advice and make 
sure that there is a bright line between acceptable counterterrorism 
activities and unacceptable violations of our fundamental rights.

                          ____________________