Pelosi on PATRIOT Act Reauthorization

December 14, 2005

Washington,D.C. – House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi spoke on the House floor thisafternoon in opposition to extension of provisions of the USA Patriot Actbecause they would curtail individual liberties. The bill passed theHouse but faces an uncertain future in the Senate. Below are Pelosi’sremarks:

“First, let us be clear about what we are voting ontoday. We are not voting for the reauthorization of the Patriot Act in general. More than 90 percent of the Patriot Act is permanent law and includes manynon-controversial provisions that give law enforcement the tools theyneed. What is before us on the floor today is the extension of certainprovisions which are controversial and have the potential for abuse.

“All of us support providing law enforcement officers withthe tools required to combat terrorism. In doing so, we must alsopreserve the balance between security and civil liberties and recognize thatnot all of the tools that law enforcement officers want are tools that theylegitimately need.

“I cannot support the Patriot Act extension conference reportbecause it does not secure the right balance between security andliberty. Our Founding Fathers led a revolution to secure liberty againstan arbitrary power. They knew that you cannot have security withoutliberty, or liberty without security in a democracy.

“As we consider this conference report, I ask every Member ofCongress, indeed, every American: Do you know if a national security letter hasbeen issued to your phone company, your Internet provider, or your bank for thewholesale collection of records that may include your personalinformation? This letter does not even have to specify that the recordssought are connected to terrorism. You don’t know if such a letter hasbeen issued; you can’t know; you will never know.

“This is true for every American and any informationincluding your most sensitive personal data, along with that of thousands ofAmerican citizens may be held in perpetuity by law enforcement.

“The recipients, the bank, the phone company, the Internetprovider are not allowed to tell anyone they have received this letter. These are searches without any warrant and without any judicial supervision.

“This is a massive invasion of the privacy of the Americanpeople, not just some idle threat. TheWashington Post reported last month that the FBI handsout more than 30,000 national security letters per year, a reportedhundred-fold increase over historic norms. How did this happen?

“This conference has missed an opportunity to address therevelation of the widespread use of national security letters. We must havestandards that clarify that there must be a connection to terrorism or to a suspectedspy. Section 505 that covers the national security letters must include asunset. That is why I strongly support the request of Mr. Conyers for athree-month extension so that conferees can reconvene, adopt the Senate bill,fix the national security letters, and get it right. Our democracyrequires no less.

“Thislegislation also needs a requirement that the government show some connectionbetween the records sought under the ‘library provision,’ and an individualsuspected of being a terrorist or spy. Such a standard is needed toensure that fishing expeditions do not take place, yet this standard is missingfrom this Republican conference report.

“Thelist of failures in this bill goes on. That is why it is important thatwe support the motion to recommit which calls for adoption of the Senatebill. If the motion fails we must follow Mr. Conyers’ lead and take threemonths to do this right. Nothing less is at stake than our privacy andour civil liberties, really the essence of our democracy.

“When originally enacted the Patriot Act was intended to beaccompanied by Congressional oversight so that the implementation did notviolate our civil liberties. Unfortunately, the Bush Administration andthe Republican Congress have been delinquent in the oversight of the PatriotAct. As we have seen with this massive and unprecedented scope ofnational security letters, the implications of the Republican failure ofoversight are glaring and have a direct impact on every American. It islong past time for Congress to have real oversight.

“We must always remember as we protect anddefend the American people, we must honor the oath of office we take here whenwe are sworn in to protect and defend the Constitution and the civil libertiesthat it contains. We have an obligation to do better for the Americanpeople.”