USA Patriot and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2005--Conference Report--Continued

USA PATRIOT AND TERRORISM PREVENTION REAUTHORIZATION ACT OF 2005--CONFERENCE REPORT--Continued

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I thank the Senator from Vermont for yielding the time and for his leadership on this issue. I voted for the PATRIOT Act. It was a bit of a leap of faith because I was not sure. I did not know if we were giving the Government more authority and more power than it needed to keep America safe, but I felt, as most Americans did, that in light of September 11, we had to do more to make America safer.

The Senator from Vermont, along with the Senator from Utah, came together on a bipartisan basis and produced a PATRIOT Act to give the Government more tools to fight terrorism. In their wisdom, they understood that perhaps we had moved too far and too fast, and they said at the end of 4 years we would revisit this law and make sure that we had not given up more personal freedom in America than we had to be safe, and that is why we are here today.

In the meantime, I joined with a bipartisan coalition, an interesting coalition when one looks at our political spectrum in the Senate. I joined with my friend, LARRY CRAIG of Idaho, Senator JOHN SUNUNU, Senator LISA MURKOWSKI, Senator RUSS FEINGOLD, and Senator KEN SALAZAR in a bipartisan coalition that has been working to reform the PATRIOT Act for over two years.

We studied the PATRIOT Act very carefully and came to the conclusion that certain provisions did not contain adequate safeguards to protect the rights and liberties of Americans. That is why we introduced the SAFE Act.

It was our efforts together in the Senate Judiciary Committee and the good leadership of the Senator from Pennsylvania as its chairman that resulted in a bill that came out of that committee unanimously. It was a bipartisan bill that came to the floor to reauthorize the PATRIOT Act and passed on the floor by a voice vote. It was not perfect, but it was a consensus, bipartisan, compromise bill. Then, sadly, it went into a conference committee where the most important safeguards were removed, which brings us to this moment in time.

Let me salute the Senator from Pennsylvania. He has argued this issue on its substance. He has not argued it politically. But he has said during the course of this debate that there have been no verified abuses of the PATRIOT Act. I would say to my friend from Pennsylvania, it is not the burden of the American people to prove that their rights have been violated. That's not how the American legal system works. We should build in checks and balances to ensure that abuses do not take place in the first instance.

Moreover, it is difficult to find verified abuses of the PATRIOT Act when so many provisions are cloaked in secrecy. In most cases, people will never learn that their medical, tax, or gun records have been seized. An individual who receives a Section 215 order or a National Security Letter is bound by a gag order so he cannot speak out, even if he believes his rights have been violated.

Now today's headlines suggest this administration went beyond the pale in authorizing hundreds and perhaps thousands of warrantless wiretaps on Americans in the United States. This violates the long-standing legal requirement that the government must obtain a warrant from a court in order to eavesdrop on Americans in the United States.

If these stories are true, it makes the PATRIOT Act reforms we have suggested even more urgent, and additional reforms may be necessary. But it is certainly premature to approve this flawed conference report before we learn more about these allegations.

The obvious question is this: Whether or not we pass the PATRIOT Act, will the administration argue they have the authority to go forward, anyway?

What we need to do is to defeat cloture, pass a 3-month extension of this PATRIOT Act, and move on to make changes to the law that are needed to protect our freedom while giving law enforcement the authority they need to fight terrorism. We can be both safe and free in America.

BREAK IN TRANSCRIPT

Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, I just left a small farewell party for my colleague, JON CORZINE of New Jersey. He is, of course, leaving the Senate in a few days to become Governor of the State of New Jersey. Congressman BOB MENENDEZ will be appointed to fill his vacancy and stand for election in about a year.

I am going to miss JON CORZINE for a lot of reasons. First, we have a lot in common. JON was born and raised in the small town of Willy Station, which is just a few miles away from the bustling metropolis of Taylorville in Christian County, IL, just a few miles from where I live. I know a little about the Corzine family today, and I sense what his upbringing was all about. He grew up on a farm, with a dad who raised corn and soybeans. It was not a comfortable and wealthy existence, but it was a great upbringing. He was raised in the Midwestern tradition of working hard. He started at age 13 with his first job. He worked his way through college, going to the University of Illinois where he was a walk-on on the basketball team. He has assured me time and again he was no superstar. But the fact that he did that and served in the Marine Corps and went on to the University of Chicago for a master's degree in business tells me he is a person who had a good work ethic--not only that but a great deal of talent.

JON's career took him to the highest levels in the business world. He was a partner at Goldman Sachs at the age of 33. He was cochair and co-CEO of that investment banking giant at the age of 50. He started there fetching coffee for his superiors. He came up not only quickly but the right way. When he was first running, I remember reading accounts in the New York Times about what kind of a CEO he was. He knew the elevator operator's name, and he would go to the mailroom and talk to the workers there and try to provide financial assistance so that workers could go on to earn a college degree.

That is the same JON CORZINE I came to know in the Senate, a very caring and compassionate individual in so many different ways. He would fight tooth and nail for things he believed in, and he would also pick causes that were not quite that popular and put all of his energy and skill at work on them as well.

I can recall the terrible genocide in Dafur and how he made that his issue. Time and again, he came to the floor of the Senate to remind all of us about that tiny country on the other side of the world and the people being oppressed there. That is JON CORZINE. Time and again, he showed us that you could be both financially successful in life and not lose your bearings when it came to good moral conduct and good values.

When I think about his heroes in life, I share many of them. He used to talk about Paul Douglas, the first man I worked for in the Senate as a college intern. Paul Douglas was from the University of Chicago faculty, and he was a person who inspired many of us, not only because he worked hard and did his best to speak for the common man, but because he was all over the State appreciating the variety of life you can find in Illinois. Then, of course, was his successor and protege, Paul Simon, whom I was honored to succeed in the Senate, also a friend of JON CORZINE's. So we had the Paul Douglas and Paul Simon connection. And, of course, the admiration JON CORZINE had for them said it all.

When I look back at these heroes of JON CORZINE, I realize that we have that much in common--our Illinois roots and a lot more. We come from the same place. We share many of the same values. We fought on the same side of many of the same battles. We share many of the same heroes. Like JON CORZINE, I admired Senators Douglas and Simon. I had the privilege to know and work with them. Paul Douglas helped design Social Security. JON CORZINE helped to save it. Like Paul Douglas, JON CORZINE is a brave champion of civil rights, economic justice, and the environment. Like Paul Douglas, JON CORZINE is unafraid to speak his mind for the good of the country.

All in all, I am certain that Paul Douglas and Paul Simon would approve of the short, though important, Senate career of JON CORZINE. They would thank him, as we all do, for fighting hard and well for people and values of this great Nation. I will miss JON CORZINE. The people of New Jersey have made a wise choice. He will be a good, thoughtful, compassionate leader of their great State. I look forward to working with him for many years to come for the values that we share.

I yield the floor.

http://thomas.loc.gov/