[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.