OFFICIALS LEGISLATION INTEREST GROUPS PUBLIC STATEMENTS COMMITTEES VETOES

Restore Act

Date: Oct. 17, 2007
Location: Washington, DC
Issues: National Security Technology and Communication


RESTORE ACT -- (House of Representatives - October 17, 2007)

[Page: H11642]

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(Ms. LINDA T. SÁNCHEZ of California asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 minute.)

Ms. LINDA T. SÁNCHEZ of California. Madam Speaker, today the House will debate the RESTORE Act, a bill that ensures the intelligence community has the tools that it needs to conduct surveillance of foreign targets outside of the United States, while at the same time restoring constitutional checks and balances that were omitted from the Bush administration's FISA bill.

I do not pretend that this is the perfect bill; few bills meet that standard. However, the President has made many false claims about it. For example, he has claimed that this bill will unnecessarily delay the collection of foreign intelligence information and may cause us to ``go dark'' while chasing leads. That's blatantly false.

The RESTORE Act allows for immediate collection in emergency situations without obtaining court approval, so we will never go dark. However, unlike current law, the RESTORE Act puts the FISA Court back in the business of protecting Americans' private communications, just as Congress intended when it created FISA.

To have a truly secure America, without compromising American values, we must fight terrorists without jeopardizing the civil liberties that make our Nation great.

I urge my colleagues to support this legislation.


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