Ensuring Tax Exempt Organizations the Right to Appeal Act -- Continued

Floor Speech

Mr. COTTON. Madam President, reserving the right to object.

The PATRIOT Act is a critical tool for our national security. The
junior Senator from Utah is correct that three provisions do expire at
the end of this month: the so-called roving wiretap provision that will
allow intelligence professionals and law enforcement officials to track
terrorists no matter what device they might use, the so-called ``lone
wolf'' provision that would allow our intelligence authorities to
identify and stop terrorists who are not necessarily
clearly linked to an overseas terrorist organization,
and, finally, section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, which has
enabled our intelligence professionals at the National Security Agency
to help keep our country safe in the so-called telephony metadata
program, which was unlawfully disclosed by Edward Snowden 2 years ago,
which is why we are able to discuss such a highly classified program.

The junior Senator from Utah and I disagree about the program and the
legislation. There will be a time for that debate because it is the
most important issue we could debating in the United States, our
national security and the tools we need to keep our country safe.

For the time being, we are on the trade promotion authority bill.
That was a decision made last week. This is maybe not the decision that
the junior Senator from Utah would have made, and it is not the
decision I would have made, but that is where we are. Perhaps we could
have been done with the TPA bill if the other side of the aisle had
allowed amendments to be processed last week and if there had not been
a needless filibuster of the motion to proceed to the bill, but that is
water under the bridge. We should move forward in an orderly fashion
and process the amendments that are pending on the trade promotion
authority bill. We should have a final vote on that bill and then we
should move on to the PATRIOT Act reauthorization bill. There will be
time for robust debate in public, which is exactly what so many of our
Members have been doing in private, given the classified nature of
these programs. If we have to work beyond Thursday, I am more than
happy to do that. I will even work on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and
into next week, if that is what is necessary to first process the trade
bill and then finally to reauthorize the important provisions of the
PATRIOT Act.

Madam President, I object to the unanimous consent request.

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