Small Business Additional Temporary Extension Act of 2011

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Mr. MERKLEY. Mr. President, I am deeply appreciative of the dialogue that has just taken place. It was William Pitt in England who commented that the wind and the rain can enter my house, but the King cannot.

It captured the spirit and understanding of the balance between personal privacy, personal freedoms, and issues of the Crown regarding maintenance of security. It was this foundation that came in for our fourth amendment of our Constitution that lays out clear standards for the protection of privacy and freedoms.

So as we have wrestled with the standard set out in the PATRIOT Act, a standard that says the government may have access to records that are relevant to an investigation--now, that term is, on its face, quite broad and expansive, quite a low standard, if you will. But what happens when it is interpreted out of the sight of this Chamber, out of the sight of the American people? That is the issue my colleague has raised, and it is a very important issue.

I applaud the chair of the Intelligence Committee for laying out a process whereby we all can wrestle with this issue in an appropriate venue and have a path for amendments in the committee or possibly here on the floor of the Senate because I do think it is our constitutional responsibility to make sure the fourth amendment of the Constitution is protected, the privacy and freedoms of citizens are protected.

I say thank you to the Senator from Colorado; my senior colleague, who has led this effort from Oregon; my colleague from New Mexico, who is the Acting President pro tempore; and the chairwoman from California.

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