Protect America Act of 2007 Extension

Floor Speech

PROTECT AMERICA ACT OF 2007 EXTENSION -- (House of Representatives - February 13, 2008)

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Mr. VAN HOLLEN. Madam Speaker, I rise today in support of H.R. 5349, a twenty one day extension of the Protect America Act. I believe that this short term extension is necessary to achieve a long term solution to update our foreign surveillance laws in a manner that will protect the civil liberties of Americans.

I voted against the Protect America Act last August because I believe that it seriously compromises the civil liberties of Americans. I am still opposed to it as a permanent solution to our need to conform our surveillance laws to changes in telecommunication technology. Fortunately, it was scheduled to sunset in 6 months to provide additional time to correct our foreign surveillance law in a balanced manner.

The House passed such a balanced bill, H.R. 3773, the RESTORE Act, in November. I voted for this bill because I believe that it establishes the proper balance between the protection of civil liberties and the needs of our intelligence agencies to have access to critical information. Unfortunately, the Senate passed their bill yesterday giving us no time to reconcile the differences between the respective bills. Moreover, I have serious objections to the Senate bill which is dramatically different than its House counterpart.

Significant work must be done to harmonize these bills in a manner that will be acceptable to me. Consequently, it is necessary to provide additional time for the committees of jurisdiction to craft a balanced bicameral solution.

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