USA Patriot Act

USA PATRIOT ACT

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Mr. NELSON of Florida. Will the Senator yield for a question?

Mr. DURBIN. I am happy to yield for a question.

Mr. NELSON of Florida. I want to again commend the Senator for reminding the Senate of the substance of the issue. The substance of the issue is that Americans are quite concerned they are going to lose their civil liberties. They certainly want the Government of the United States to in fact prosecute the war against terrorists, but they don't want our society, because of our protection of civil liberties, to change into some other kind of society. Would the Senator agree that is the substantial majority opinion in this country, to protect our civil liberties?

Mr. DURBIN. It certainly is in my State of Illinois and I suspect nationwide. It is interesting to me, the passions that many of our colleagues bring to the fight of protecting a person's money--which is an important part of our job--but when it comes to protecting our freedoms, I don't see the same level of passionate commitment. I hope we will see that change during the course of this debate. But I think Americans value their freedoms very much.

I always recall, as a practicing attorney, how many people would be dismissive of criminal procedures to protect defendants until it was their teenage son or daughter who was arrested and then they came to their attorney and said, What can we do? What does the law provide to protect us?

I think we should all be sensitive to that fact.

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