Status of Intelligence Surveillance Bill

Floor Speech

Status of Intelligence Surveillance Bill

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. HOYER. I was not planning to speak, but the previous speaker has done what this administration did a little earlier today and has been doing over the days. We call it fear-mongering, trying to stampede this Congress into doing something that is contrary to our oath of office to protect the Constitution of the United States as well as defend our Nation from those who would harm our citizens and our country.

The gentleman's assertion that the intelligence community is not able to intercept communications to protect our country is not true. Anybody who heard his words and was concerned by his representations ought to be disabused of the fact of the accuracy of his assertions. In fact, the administration said that in a letter, a six-page letter, and within hours sent out an e-mail saying, No, we're wrong. Telephone companies are cooperating with us. We are able to intercept communications.

But what he also did not mention is that we passed a bill 2 1/2 months ago, now 3 months ago, which would have provided the full authority the administration needed to continue doing what they needed to do. Without exception. Secondly, what he failed to say is that when the Senate failed to act for those 3 months, it was because the Republican Party in the Senate precluded that bill from moving forward. But he didn't represent that. And then they sent us the bill 2 days before a break was to be scheduled. That was considered, in my opinion, to try to preclude any further discussion on the issue. They believed they could do that by then appealing to the concerns, rightful concerns, of the American public that we continued to do everything necessary to keep them safe. That's the commitment of all 435 Members of this House. It's my commitment. I speak on behalf of my party, as majority leader of my party, with respect to that issue. Every Member wants to ensure.

What he did not tell you, however, was because we only had some 48 hours of session, because we wanted to give it consideration, and because the normal process is to have a conference between the two Houses if there are differences as there are between the two pieces of legislation, we said to all of the Republicans and to all of the Democrats, let us extend by 21 days the Protect America Act so that there is no question.

What the gentleman from Georgia did not tell you is that every Republican person voted against that extension. They voted against the extension, and then when it did not pass, they said, Oh, America is at risk. It is like the child who killed both his parents and said, Have pity on me. I'm an orphan. They refused to pass the very legislation which would have kept the act that they say is necessary in full effect.

The good news is that we have a statute on the books called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act which provides the administration with every authority it needs, but what it requires the administration to do is come to the FISA Court and get approval. There is no backlog in that court. Not a second's backlog in that court. And administration officials have said we would not miss a beat in terms of our interception of communications. Administration officials have said that within minutes approval could be granted, and under the FISA Act, the administration can act and then get approval after the fact. So I'm not sure what the generals were talking about.

What the gentleman from Georgia did not mention as well is that we have been working every day since we left session on trying to reach a compromise so that we could move forward on this bill. We had a meeting this day to do that very thing, a meeting which was bipartisan. We had the administration involved. We are hopeful that we can reach agreement.

So I want to assure the American public that the leadership of this House is going to do everything in our power to ensure that we protect this Nation and our people and to defeat those who fashion themselves to be radical Islamic jihadist terrorists and ensure that they will be stopped, they will be caught, and that we will prevail in this war on terrorism.

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