(Warwick, R.I.) Congressman Jim Langevin (D-RI) will vote today for the RESTORE Act – H.R. 3773. Langevin, a member of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, offered the following statement on House floor:
 
“This legislation does what our Constitution requires us to do – protect security while preserving liberty.  Maintaining that balance has sometimes been difficult, and the events of 9/11 made it even more challenging.  However, the RESTORE Act is a carefully crafted solution.
 
“We all recognize the gravity of the threats facing our country, and this bill gives the Director of National Intelligence all of the authority he has asked for to fight terrorism.  Further, the RESTORE Act provides for rigorous and independent oversight from the courts, the Congress, and the Department of Justice Inspector General.
 
“In our Committee mark-up, I successfully offered an amendment to strengthen this oversight by preserving the FISA Court’s role to review compliance with their rules every 90 days for the life of a court order.

“Rigorous oversight is why the Bush Administration objects to this bill.  They want unfettered authority.  Unfortunately, we have seen what happens without checks and balances, and I will not let that happen again.
“We have faced grave threats before.  Our Constitution was drafted when the very survival of our nation was in doubt.  Yet our founding fathers made the preservation of basic liberties part of the fabric of our national identity. 
 
 “As Members of Congress, it is our duty to defend the Constitution and the principles on which it was founded.”
 
The Responsible Electronic Surveillance That is Overseen, Reviewed and Effective (RESTORE) Act updates the Foreign Surveillance Intelligence Act (FISA) to provide meaningful and flexible surveillance tools to the intelligence community. Among the provisions in the bill, RESTORE puts the FISA Courts back into the business of protecting Constitutional rights of Americans and mandates that FISA cannot be used to spy on Americans without a warrant.
 
However, RESTORE will not prohibit the surveillance necessary to preventing future terrorist attacks in the United States and ensures the safety and security of servicemembers here and abroad.