By Bernie Delinski
U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks knew the question would come up sooner or later, and he was prepared.
Taking questions Tuesday evening during a town hall meeting, the Republican congressman distributed a handout in response to a question about his opposition to an amendment that would have limited the National Security Agency's ability to store information regarding telephone calls.
"We're having to weigh privacy issues vs. security issues, and it's only going to get worse," said Brooks, whose district includes Lauderdale County.
On July 24, he was among representatives voting down the Amash Amendment, named for Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich. It was a close vote, with the opposition winning, 217-205.
The amendment would have limited the collection of records under the Patriot Act to those pertaining to someone who is a subject of an investigation.
Brooks said information from the NSA has been crucial in preventing terrorist attacks.
"In my opinion, there would have been thousands of American lives lost on American soil since 2006 without this information," he said.
Brooks said the NSA Telephone Metadata system is allowed to provide information on four things: the telephone number that is called, the number from which the call is made, length of call and date and time it was made.
It does not provide recordings or other information about the content of the call, he said.
"Further, per briefings by those with first-hand knowledge, the NSA has no other mass data storage collections concerning American citizens," he said.
The NSA can access a call only if it is from or to a foreign number, he said.
"If patterns develop, the NSA turns the numbers over to the FBI," he said.
Brooks said the NSA conducted less than 300 search queries through the system in 2012. He said he examined classified records that describe 54 examples -- including 13 in the United States -- "in which the Patriot Act and NSA Telephone Metadata have combined to prevent terrorist attacks."
The congressman also spoke out against an immigration bill by the so-called Senate Gang of Eight, saying it would bring 33 million more people into the country within 10 years. That means more people vying for jobs and raising unemployment, Brooks said.
He said many immigrants gain citizenship through proper means. In the past five years, a range of 650,000 to 1.1 million foreigners have been granted U.S. citizenship per year.
"That's far more than any other country