Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2008

Floor Speech

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Mr. SCHIFF. Mr. Chairman, I thank the gentleman for yielding. I thank Mr. Mack for his strong work on this issue and his protection of civil liberties in this regard and many others.

Most disturbingly, from my view, from the Inspector General's report was the fact that the FBI issued at least 739 exigent letters to obtain telephone toll records in violation of internal Justice Department guidelines.

These exigent letters are used in emergency situations when an attack can be imminent and information is required immediately. They said things like this: ``Due to exigent circumstances, it is requested the records for the attached list of phone numbers be provided. Subpoenas requesting this information have been submitted to the U.S. Attorney's Office, who will process and serve them as expeditiously as possible.''

The problem with these letters, in at least 739 cases there was no grand jury meeting. There were no subpoenas requested, and none would ever be delivered. And so here you have the prospect of the FBI going out to a phone company or other provider and saying, this is an emergency, we need this information, subpoenas to be forthcoming, and none were.

Now, as a telephone company, you get the FBI knocking on your door asking for records, saying, this is an emergency, someone's life may be at risk, we may be at risk of an attack, you're going to want to comply. And then after the fact, after the FBI discovered that it had issued all these letters erroneously, unlawfully, it then issues an NSL, National Security Letter, asking for the information that was provided for in these exigent letters, basically to cover up, to try to give a patina of legality over an illegal practice.

This is deeply disturbing, and my friend's amendment, that I was pleased to join him in cosponsoring, would prohibit the expenditure of funds on these exigent letters when the claim is made that a grand jury subpoena is forthcoming when there's no grand jury even impaneled on the issue.

We need to put a stop to this practice. I very much appreciate my colleague raising this issue. I'm proud to support it.

Mr. KENNEDY. Reclaiming my time, Mr. Chairman, I think that this issue is an issue of due process. This country was founded on the basis of due process and on law, and that is why this strikes at the very heart of our system of government and why this is such an important issue to be raised.

And for that reason, I think that while this is a point of order, I do believe this is going to be an issue for this Congress to address in the course of this session. I commend the gentleman from Florida for raising it.

Mr. Chairman, I yield back the balance of my time,

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