Michele Bachmann explained on the House floor last night why she felt it was necessary to vote for the extension of the Patriot Act. She explains her support for all three provisions, but spent the most time on the Access to Records provision noting:
- No right of imagining access to records can be given unless a federal agent goes to a judge first (FISA court)
- There must be a connection to national security interests or to a foreign government.
- These are only business records, not records in your house that sit in your basement.
On Roving Wiretaps she says:
We have changed from the days of telephones being wired into the walls, now we use a cell phone. Modern terrorists will buy 1,000 phones and make one call and pick up another cell phone and make another call. We have to have the ability to be able to go to which ever phone a potential alleged terrorist may be using.
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UPDATE: Just to point this out, Allen West tweeted last night that he did not vote for the Patriot Act extension:
I voted No on PATRIOT act tonight. After much more research, I’m not convinced by extending these provisions 4 yrs. we would be any safer