USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2005
USA PATRIOT AND TERRORISM PREVENTION REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - July 21, 2005)
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Mr. ISSA. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman from Arizona for yielding me this time, and I thank the gentleman from California (Mr. Schiff).
I have the distinction of being one of the few members on the Committee on the Judiciary who is not an attorney, and I got a little applause on that, I think. But I came to Congress from the business of automobile security. The one thing I know about what we are dealing with in terrorism is that if you leave an open window on an automobile, no amount of security will protect you. If you leave the automobile or your home unlocked, no security system will protect you.
There is absolutely no doubt that we must protect America. To do so, we have to be able to go anywhere and never take anything completely off the table.
I believe that this amendment allows us to guarantee that there are no safe havens for terrorists while, at the same time, we will protect the privacy and the fair expectation that there will not be unreasonable rifling through the records at libraries or, for that matter, I hope, anywhere else under this act.
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Mr. ISSA. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. The Clerk will designate the amendment.
The text of the amendment is as follows:
Amendment No. 3 offered by Mr. Issa:
Page 10, line 23, strike ``within a reasonable period of time, as determined by the court,'' and insert ``at the earliest reasonable time as determined by the court, but in no case later than 15 days,''.
Page 11, line 6, after ``surveillance'' insert the following: ``and shall specify the total number of electronic surveillances that have been or are being conducted under the authority of the order''.
The Acting CHAIRMAN. Pursuant to House Resolution 369, the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa) and a Member opposed each will control 10 minutes.
The Chair recognizes the gentleman from California (Mr. Issa).
Mr. ISSA. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
Mr. Chairman, the threat we face as Americans today is all too real. The recent bombings in London could have happened on American soil, and it is only through the vigilance of our many law enforcement entities that we can combat this occurrence.
The PATRIOT Act, as it was originally adopted, contains many needed tools to fight those who would harm us here in America. One of those tools was the expansion of roving wiretap authority. This vital tool allowed us to reach out and touch those who had discovered that using a new cell phone every day would have gotten around existing wiretap laws. It did not take the terrorists long to realize that, and it would not take them long if that ceased to exist for them to begin using that technique prior to the PATRIOT Act.
We made America safer when we expanded these surveillance authorities, because now law enforcement can continue to monitor a terrorist's activity without undue interruption. But this new authority must be balanced with our fundamental civil liberties.
It is not that law enforcement has ever misused the roving wiretap provision. I repeat: law enforcement has not been, through our oversight, seen to have abused the roving wiretap provision. However, this is such a serious, serious potential that we must take all measures necessary to ensure that it will not be in the future.
For that reason, I seek to amend H.R. 3199 to add a level of judicial oversight not in the current bill. The current bill gives the issuing court blanket discretion on when law enforcement must report back on a roving wiretap. My amendment requires law enforcement to report back to the court within 15 days of using the roving aspect of the warrant. My amendment also requires law enforcement to report on the total number of electronic surveillances that have been conducted.
These are simple steps that will help guard against possible abuses in the future, while doing nothing to hamper the value of the roving wiretap.
Mr. Chairman, I thoroughly appreciate the opportunity to offer this amendment; but I also want to comment that we have, as a committee, worked like never before on a bipartisan basis to dramatically improve a law when it came to civil liberties that already had good teeth when it came to the security of our people.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
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Mr. ISSA. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I want to assure the gentlewoman from California that her concerns on electronic data and the fact that in an era of VOIP that we do have to look at that. I serve with the gentlewoman in California on many of the caucuses that deal with that. I look forward to both in Judiciary and, quite candidly, in other committees of jurisdiction here in the Congress to continue to work on properly identifying and modernizing how that is going to be interpreted. I think it is beyond the scope of the PATRIOT Act today, but it certainly is not beyond the Congress to have to bring things up to snuff, and I look forward to working with the gentlewoman from California.
Mr. Chairman, I reserve the balance of my time.
Mr. SCOTT of Virginia. Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
Mr. ISSA. Mr. Chairman, I yield myself such time as I may consume.
I will just close quickly in thanking the chairman, the ranking member, the staffs for the hard work that led to the underlying bill, but also to this particular amendment. This was done on a bipartisan basis. There was give and take.
Over on the Senate side there is a companion that is somewhat similar that has, I believe, a 7-day timeline, and undoubtedly we will work together in conference to reconcile those two. But the good work done on a bipartisan basis in the House has led to what I believe is the right compromise, although I certainly will work with the other body.
Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time.
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