PROVIDING FOR CONSIDERATION OF H.R. 3199, USA PATRIOT AND TERRORISM PREVENTION REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2005 -- (House of Representatives - July 21, 2005)
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Mr. OTTER. Mr. Speaker, I appreciate the leadership that we are getting on this.
This is a very difficult time for me because I have been a Republican all my life, and one of the things that I have fought for more than anything else is fairness. Do I always agree with one side or the other? Not always. My entire political career I have spent trying to just maintain balance.
The interesting thing that was brought up earlier in the debate, as I watched it from my office on this rule, was that the very thing that the PATRIOT Act is supposed to give to this country, that the proponents of it say gives to this country, is being denied on this floor today, and it is being denied because I think people are afraid to be exposed to the truth.
John Stuart Mill one time said, in certain occasions, there are people that are unfit for liberty. Let us not prove to ourselves because of temporary panic or momentary discouragement or in a fit of enthusiasm for an individual, we are suddenly unworthy of our Founding Fathers' efforts in order to provide liberty to the folks first, not from the government, but from our birthright.
So I am embarrassed to be on this side of the aisle from this aspect today. Certainly, I know that there are well-intended people on both sides, and I tried to work out a lot of things on both sides of this aisle on the PATRIOT Act. But I can tell my colleagues that with this rule and the lack of full and complete discussion, we have put a gag rule, the same gag rule that the FBI and the CIA and the NSA or any other government agent can put on the folks at the library or down at your local business and say, I want all of those records, but you are not allowed to use them.
So it is unfortunate that we have come to this. It is unfortunate that we have come to this time at this moment, because we have done so much and we have so many reasons to be proud. But this is a very embarrassing moment when we are afraid to confront the truth and the full and unabashed debate on a subject that is so dear to us as this deserves.
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