    [Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States: George W. Bush (2005, Book II)]
    [December 10, 2005]
    [Pages 1835-1836]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office www.gpo.gov]

    The President's Radio Address
    December 10, 2005

        Good morning. This week, members of a House and Senate conference
    committee reached an agreement on reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act.
    Since its passage after the attacks of September the 11th, 2001, the
    PATRIOT Act has proved essential to fighting the war on terror and
    preventing our enemies from striking America again.
        This week's agreement would renew all 16 provisions of the PATRIOT
    Act that are scheduled to expire at the end of this month, and it would
    make 14 of these provisions permanent. It reauthorizes critical national
    security tools while bolstering the PATRIOT Act's significant
    protections of civil liberties. It also includes provisions to fight
    crime and terrorism at America's seaports and tougher criminal penalties
    and increased resources to combat the dangerous spread of
    methamphetamine abuse throughout our country.
        I applaud the conference committee for its good work. Now Congress
    needs to finish the job. Both the Senate and the House need to hold a
    prompt vote and send me a bill renewing the PATRIOT Act so I can sign it
    into law.

        Over the past 4 years, the PATRIOT Act has been a strong weapon for
    going after the terrorists. America's law enforcement and intelligence
    personnel have put the PATRIOT Act to wise and effective use while
    protecting our civil liberties. They have used the law to prosecute
    terrorist operatives and supporters or break up terror cells in New
    York, Oregon, Virginia, California, Texas, and Ohio. The PATRIOT Act has
    accomplished exactly what it was designed to do--it has protected
    American liberty and saved American lives.

        By renewing the PATRIOT Act, we will ensure that our law enforcement
    and intelligence officers have the tools they need to protect our
    citizens. The PATRIOT Act tore down the legal and bureaucratic wall that
    kept law enforcement and intelligence authorities from sharing vital
    information

    [[Page 1836]]

    about terrorist threats. Now law enforcement and intelligence officers
    are working together.
        The PATRIOT Act also allowed Federal investigators to pursue
    terrorists with the same tools they already use against other criminals.
    For example, before the PATRIOT Act, it was easier to track the phone
    calls of a drug dealer than the phone calls of a terrorist. Before the
    PATRIOT Act, it was easier to get the credit card receipts of a tax
    cheat than those of an Al Qaida bankroller. The PATRIOT Act ended these
    double standards. The theory is straightforward: If we have good tools
    to fight street crime and fraud, then law enforcement should have at
    least the same tools to fight terrorism.
        The PATRIOT Act is helping America defeat our enemies while
    safeguarding civil liberties for all our people. The judicial branch has
    a strong oversight role in the application of the PATRIOT Act. Under the
    act, law enforcement officers need a Federal judge's permission to
    wiretap a foreign terrorist's phone or search his property. Congress
    also oversees our use of the PATRIOT Act. Attorney General
    Gonzales delivers regular reports on the
    PATRIOT Act to the House and the Senate.
        The valuable protections of the PATRIOT Act will expire at the end
    of this month if Congress fails to act, but the terrorist threats will
    not expire on that schedule. In the war on terror, we cannot afford to
    be without this vital law for a single moment. So, I urge Congress to
    approve the conference committee agreement promptly and reauthorize the
    PATRIOT Act.
        Thank you for listening.

    Note: The address was recorded at 7:32 a.m. on December 9 in the Cabinet
    Room at the White House for broadcast at 10:06 a.m. on December 10. The
    transcript was made available by the Office of the Press Secretary on
    December 9 but was embargoed for release until the broadcast. The Office
    of the Press Secretary also released a Spanish language transcript of
    this address.