Protect America Act of 2007

Floor Speech

PROTECT AMERICA ACT OF 2007

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Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, the gentleman has alleged illegal acts by the President's administration in his speech. I ask that those words be taken down.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Clerk will report the words.

Mr. NADLER. Mr. Speaker, in the interest of our getting home at some reasonable hour, I will be happy to withdraw the truthful and accurate statements I made a moment ago.

The SPEAKER pro tempore. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from New York?

Mr. ISSA. The gentleman asked to withdraw the what statements? I couldn't quite hear it.

Mr. NADLER. Accurate statement I made a moment ago.

Mr. ISSA. No, he is not withdrawing them if he claims they are accurate. They are inaccurate.

Mr. NADLER. I am withdrawing them.

Mr. ISSA. Is the gentleman withdrawing them without any other reservation?

Mr. NADLER. I withdraw them without any reservations; but I retain my opinion.

Mr. ISSA. That's fair. Thank you.

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Mr. ISSA. Mr. Speaker, I want to lower the tone and the rhetoric for just a moment and in 2 minutes give the American people and the body here the opportunity to reflect on what we're really doing here tonight.

Mr. Speaker, I travel throughout the Arab world regularly. People in that area of the world are more afraid of Islamic terrorism than any American here tonight. They count on us to be their eyes and ears. Most of those countries do not have the resources we have.

So when they hear tonight that we don't want a foreign terrorist who calls into a cell in the U.S. to be listened to, they're shocked. They're shocked that we wouldn't at least listen to the foreign side of the operation or see the e-mail, and if the President doesn't sign this by tomorrow, there will be plenty of terrorists who will take note of this because they didn't think, in fact, we weren't able to listen to foreign callers who are calling in to their terrorist cells.

Mr. Speaker, oddly enough, September 11 is a story of exactly this, that we were not listening to Osama bin Laden. We were not monitoring Osama bin Laden's instructions to his cells as they went back and forth into the U.S. and even into my home of San Diego.

Mr. Speaker, what's amazing to me here tonight is that we're arguing as though we're changing the Constitution arbitrarily. Mr. Speaker, what we're doing is passing a stopgap 6-month, I repeat, 6-month bill. This thing sunsets in 6 months. One of those months, everybody here will be out on vacation or in their districts doing town hall meetings.

The fact is that only 5 months will remain when we come back from the August recess to work further on refinements on a lasting bill.

So, Mr. Speaker, I would close by saying, if people would understand, that really what we're doing is we're simply buying the ability to leave town and letting our allies and the American people know that they can sleep safely tonight. I urge you to take this compromise bipartisan bill.

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