Pelosi Statement on President Bush's Partisan Comments on the Patriot Act

Statement

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement today in response to President Bush's allegation this afternoon that "partisan reasons" prevented the permanent extension of controversial provisions of the USA Patriot Act:

"The President has once again misstated the facts. Contrary to his insinuation, the affected legislation involves only a small portion of the Patriot Act - 90 percent of the Patriot Act is permanent law and remains unaffected. And far from being a partisan response, the delay in permanently extending the controversial provisions of the Patriot Act reflected serious bipartisan concern, especially from a group of Republican Senators, that the proposed legislation to permanently extend these provisions failed to secure the right balance between our national security and our civil liberties.

"Both Democrats and Republicans agreed to a temporary extension of these provisions. This temporary extension permits the American people time to discuss the serious impacts on their liberties and also provides the opportunity to add the appropriate safeguards that were contained in an earlier Senate bill that passed the Senate unanimously.

"In fact, it was a member of the President's own party - the Republican Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee - who forced the temporary extension to apply only for a month, rather than the six months that Democrats had agreed to with Senate Republicans.

"As we debate the vital issue of Americans' constitutional rights, the President has a profound obligation to state the facts accurately and not to mislead the public."

Source