Education for Retirement Security Act of 2005

Mr. President, I come to the Chamber today to speak about

the PATRIOT Act reauthorization conference report. While this agreement does not give everyone all that they want, it is the result of lengthy, difficult negotiations. It represents a reasonable compromise for all parties involved, and it extends tools important to our national security, while enhancing civil liberties protections.

It has been more than 4 years since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In the days, weeks, and months since that day, the American people have braced themselves for the possibility of another terrorist attack on our homeland.

After all, we know all too well that al-Qaida is a stealthy, sophisticated, and patient enemy, and its leadership is motivated to launch another devastating attack on American citizens and soil.

Outside the United States, al-Qaida and its affiliates have continued to be remarkably active, responsible for numerous attacks, spanning the globe from Pakistan to Bali, Spain to London.

It is precisely because al-Qaida is so aggressive, so motivated, and so demonstrably hostile to America that I am grateful that, to date, they still have not successfully launched another attack on our soil. There are undoubtedly many reasons for this. First and foremost: the brave men and women of our Armed Forces. They are fighting the terrorist abroad so that we do not have to face them at home. Also, our efforts to strengthen antiterrorism and law enforcement tools through the USA PATRIOT Act has had much to do with this record of success and peace to date.

This diligence that has kept us safe at home must continue. The war on terrorism must be fought aggressively--but consistent with the protection of civil rights and civil liberties. That is why I am disappointed when we witness false reports and scare tactics about phantom civil rights violations. Such reports and tactics serve no legitimate cause--but they do a grave disservice to the American people. Whenever real civil liberties problems do arise, we must learn about them right away, so that we can fix them swiftly. Congress works hard to strike both a careful and wise balance between national security and civil liberties. While this is not always easy, we do so with the best interests of our Nation in mind--and we do so in a manner that is both honest and in good faith. This conference report strikes a careful balance by both preserving the provisions that have made America safer since 9/11 and increasing congressional and judicial oversight--which should alleviate the concerns of those who believe the law enforcement tools endanger civil liberties.

Many who oppose this agreement do so because of concerns that law enforcement will abuse these tools. While a legitimate concern, it simply has not been borne out by facts. First, the reports issued by the Department of Justice's independent inspector general have repeatedly found no systematic abuses of any of the provisions of Patriot. Second, these provisions are carried out by professional and dedicated law enforcement officers in a way that respects the rights of all Americans.

It has been said that time is a great healer. And, as time goes by, the shock we all felt following the 9/11 attacks has abated, somewhat. But as we recall those terrible memories, we are reminded of the institutional failures of our Government that failed to prevent the attacks. And we as a Nation, and the Congress in particular, vowed to tear down the walls that prevented information sharing, and to enact other tools vital to defending this country. It is clear that the PATRIOT Act has played a significant role in this process, as it has been instrumental in dismantling terrorist cells from New York to Oregon.

The failure to pass this conference report will cause these critical tools to lapse. It will weaken our country by reverting to September 10th-era tools. We cannot allow that to happen. We are living in profoundly different times. There are obviously deep feelings about the PATRIOT Act from all quarters. I and others support the PATRIOT Act and have been vocal about making these provisions permanent. Because not everyone agrees with this view, negotiations and compromises took place to reach an agreement that achieves the dual goals of continuing these critical authorities and enhancing congressional and judicial oversight.

Some have proposed that we pass a 3-month extension to continue working on the reauthorization. I oppose that. The Congress placed a December 31, 2005, deadline for a reason. The President, the Attorney General and the House support this agreement. We should vote on this agreement, and I intend to vote for cloture and will support the conference report.

However, if we are searching for alternatives, I propose the Senate take up and immediately pass legislation that I cosponsored last Congress which would strike all of the sunsets contained in the PATRIOT Act. This would eliminate the deadline we face, those in the House and those in the Senate can offer what they consider improving legislation and work to move it through the regular legislative process. That way, none of the vital authorities will be allowed to lapse and any changes that majority of the Congress supports will be implemented through the regular order.

Beyond this proposal, I want to discuss some of the specific items addressed by the conference report and try to explain why I think this report should be supported, beginning with sunsets.

I have stated that I oppose sunsets for this important legislation. I believe that our intelligence and law enforcement officials should never again be left wondering whether the Congress will manage to agree to reauthorize the tools that protect our Nation.

But realizing that there are those who feel that these sunsets are important to the negotiations, I choose to support the sunsets, even though if we were going to have sunsets I would have preferred the 10- year sunsets included in the House-passed version. This conference report retains 4-year sunsets for two of the most controversial PATRIOT Act provisions, the multipoint or ``roving'' wiretaps and the business records provision.

It also includes a sunset for the ``Lone Wolf' provision added to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act by last year's Intelligence Reform Act. This guarantees the Congress will review these provisions and continue to conduct rigorous oversight.

Senator Specter and others on the conference attempted to address civil liberty concerns in many ways, for example, dealing with the delayed search warrant provision. As my colleagues know, this section is not to sunset. Nevertheless, recognizing the sensitivity to this provision certain Members had, the conference report requires the Government to now give notice of any search under this provision within 30 days of its execution, unless the facts justify a later date certain.

Although the 30-day period is a few weeks longer than the 7-day time limit contained in the original Senate bill, it is considerably shorter than the 180 days permitted under the House bill. The conference report allows for extensions but only ``upon an updated showing of the need for further delay.'' Also, it limits any extensions to 90 days or less, unless the facts of the case justify a longer delay.

It also adds new public reporting on the use of delayed notice warrants, so that Congress and the American people will be better informed about the use of this provision.

My time is short today, but I want to briefly mention other civil liberties protections Chairman Specter negotiated. The report made explicit the ability of recipients of NSL letters and 215 orders to seek judicial review. Significantly, on both of these authorities, the conference report requires the inspector general to conduct two audits of these authorities, one audit covering 2002 through 2004; another covering 2005-2006. And, in recognition of concerns about NSLs, the conference report adds a new ``sunshine'' provision. Namely, it requires annual public reporting on NSLs, including the aggregate ``number of requests made by the Department of Justice.''

Additionally, this report gives the Senate Judiciary Committees access to significant FISA reporting currently provided to the Intelligence Committee. It also includes a provision cosponsored by Senators Specter and Leahy requiring that rules and procedures of the FISA court be supplied to

Congress. It further creates new reporting requirements to Congress for the use of emergency authorities under FISA and requires new reporting on the use of emergency disclosures of communications information made under Section 212 of the PATRIOT Act. And finally, it retains a modified version of the data-mining report contained in the House- passed bill which will require the Department of Justice to submit a report to Congress on the Department's data-mining activities.

I also want to mention another provision contained in the conference report because it is based on legislation that I introduced in the Senate. The Narco-Terrorism Prevention Act confronts the new reality and very real danger of the deadly mix of drug trafficking and terrorism.

Terrorists, like the old organized crime syndicates from the past, have recognized that illegal drug trafficking is a valuable source of financing and another way to threaten our country.

My State is experiencing the collateral effects of a drug war being carried out by modern day narco-terrorists in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico. News reports have described an ongoing battle between rival drug cartels over drug smuggling routes from Mexico into the United States. These organizations assassinate police officers and other government officials in a clear attempt to force the local government to allow these organizations to carry on their illegal activity, unimpeded. Our government needs every available tool at its disposal to combat this activity.

This new provision makes it a Federal crime designed to punish the trafficking of controlled substances which are intended to benefit a foreign terrorist organization or any one else planning a terrorist attack. It also carries stiff penalties for anyone convicted. Importantly, it provides for extraterritorial jurisdiction which allows law enforcement to reach beyond our borders to arrest and deter those who intend to carry out a crime of this nature.

Mr. President, I have opposed changing the core provisions of the PATRIOT Act and have opposed any increase in the burdens for terrorism or national security investigations or on terrorism or national security investigators because they should have the same tools available to them as do ordinary criminal investigators.

We must remain vigilant, and we must make sure that evidentiary hurdles do not creep back into the law in terrorism and national security investigations. We should avoid moving back to a pre-9/11 mindset. I believe that the package before us today continues the reforms we have made in the post-9/11 period, and I intend to vote in favor of this package.

Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent that following my comments, Senator Stabenow be recognized, then Senator Salazar and Senator Reed be recognized. All of us seek to speak about our colleague, Senator Corzine.

I thank the Chair.

Mr. President, in a few weeks our good friend, Jon Corzine, will leave the Senate, where he so effectively represented New Jersey and its people over the past 5 years, to become Governor of his State. I have been privileged to serve with Senator Corzine on the Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs, to whose work he has brought an extraordinary combination of principle, vision, intelligence, and solid common sense. I wish to say a few words today about his spectacular work on that committee. For a while, I was privileged to serve as chairman of the committee, and I can tell you that no chairman could have a better fate than to have Jon Corzine as one of his members.

Prior to entering the U.S. Senate, Jon Corzine spent nearly a quarter of a century with Goldman Sachs, the New York investment bank, including five as its chairman and CEO. His long and wide-ranging experience in the financial markets made him especially well qualified to deal with the issues that came within the Banking Committee's jurisdiction. In very short order, it was apparent that whenever Jon Corzine's turn in a committee meeting came to put questions to witnesses, even the most confident and sophisticated among them listened more intently and responded more carefully.

Senator Corzine's contribution to the accounting reform and investor protection legislation known as Sarbanes-Oxley was invaluable. Along with Senator Dodd, who also serves on the committee, Jon Corzine was among the first members of the Senate to call for hearings on investor protection in the wake of the collapse of Enron Corporation. Those hearings took place in February and March of 2002, and Senator Corzine, along with others on the committee, Senator Dodd and others, played a critical role in shaping the reform legislation enacted 4 months later. I have done it before and I wish to again acknowledge the very substantial and significant contributions Jon Corzine made in helping to shape and develop that legislation. His work was invaluable.

Consistently in the work of the committee, Jon Corzine played a critical role in efforts to strengthen protections for investors in our capital markets. BusinessWeek, in fact, noted that his work in this area gave him ``an unusually high profile for a junior Senator.''

His contributions to the work of the committee were by no means focused only on these issues. Indeed, he touched virtually every issue in the committee's jurisdiction. He has worked vigorously to expand housing opportunities and the effectiveness of Federal housing programs. He has been a forceful spokesman for full funding for critical programs of the Department of Housing and Urban Development-- section 8 vouchers, housing for the elderly, improved public housing, and other efforts to assist low-income homeowners and renters. It is indicative of his commitment, and in his statement here in the Chamber only a few minutes ago he again was making reference to how people who work at minimum wage can't afford an apartment in county after county across the country.

He led efforts to expand coverage of FHA insurance for multifamily housing, something especially relevant in States such as New Jersey where inflated housing costs affected previous program ceilings. He pressed for energy efficiency requirements in public and assisted housing, and he has remained committed to Federal action to assure secondary mortgage market liquidity and affordable housing.

Jon Corzine was an original cosponsor of the legislation to stop predatory lending practices and spoke forcefully in the committee's deliberation about the harsh and cynical techniques predatory lenders used to exploit vulnerable borrowers seeking mortgages and other credit. He has been one of the leaders in the Senate in the fight against Federal preemption of State consumer protection laws which are designed to protect our citizens against these practices.

He has been among the Senate's most outspoken advocates for public and private financial literacy programs to ensure that all Americans of all ages and all backgrounds have the skills to grasp the financial implications of the often complex credit card loans and other financial arrangements they are offered.

He has obtained Federal funding for financial education programs in elementary and secondary schools and was the leader in the ultimately successful efforts in 2003 to pass the Financial Literacy and Education Improvement Act, which incorporates many of his ideas. For his work on this issue, the JumpStart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy named him ``Federal Financial Literacy and Education Legislator of the Year.''

Throughout his tenure, Senator Corzine has been among our most articulate advocates for public transportation, whose importance in the day-to-day lives of his constituents he knows firsthand since he represents the most densely populated State in the Nation. He fought to preserve and enhance the Federal transit program as the new surface transportation authorization legislation was developed. As a result of his efforts, New Jersey will receive nearly $2.5 billion in transit formula funds from 2004 through 2009, a 50-percent increase over the amount the State received in the predecessor legislation.

He also succeeded in assuring priority treatment in terms of planning, funding, and execution under this new legislation for a new commuter rail tunnel under the Hudson River. This project, the Trans- Hudson Midtown Corridor, has been identified as a crucial investment for the region's mobility and security. As a result of his efforts, the National Transit Institute, which provides training, education, and clearinghouse services to support public transportation, will be maintained at Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

Senator Corzine was a leader in the effort to develop a Federal backstop for terrorism insurance after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Those attacks left such insurance widely unavailable and put businesses and commercial property owners at risk of future losses from terrorism without having insurance coverage. He recognized immediately this situation would create a drag on economic activity and again brought his expertise to bear in helping to develop the Federal legislation under which the Federal Government would share the risk of future terrorism losses with the industry.

Senator Corzine was one of the first to recognize the threat that identity theft poses both to consumers and to the integrity of the Nation's payment system. He has been a leader in the fight for safeguards on personal information, on protecting the privacy of our citizens.

Many of these things I have spoken about reflect a common theme, and that is Jon Corzine's concern for those left out and left behind. It has been a hallmark of his service in the Senate that he has sought to bring into the mainstream of American life those who have been left out of it. This concern for those, in a sense, who have been forgotten, was reflected in his work in the international arena, particularly the emphasis he placed on the situation in Darfur. Again and again, Jon Corzine took the floor of the Senate to bring to our attention the terrible things that were happening there and to push for measures to help alleviate that situation.

Finally, let me say what has distinguished Senator Corzine's service in the Senate over and above his many specific accomplishments is the dedication and vision and principles that underlie all his work. Before coming to

the Senate, he spent much of his professional life as an investment banker. But he brought to his responsibilities certain fundamental convictions about the nature of American society, a hopeful and optimistic vision of American life that first took place as he was growing up in a small farming community in central Illinois. It was there he has said he learned ``the meaning of hard work and the opportunities afforded by a strong education system.''

Jon Corzine went on to earn his B.A. as Phi Beta Kappa at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and enlisted in the Marine Corps Reserve where he served for 6 years. He attended the University of Chicago Business School at night, and not too much later he joined Goldman Sachs.

His many years in the financial markets have not dimmed Jon Corzine's vision of America as a nation grounded in opportunity--opportunity for a good education, for a decent job, a place to raise one's family and someday to retire with dignity, security, and self-respect. He has dedicated his efforts to advance programs that can make this vision a reality for all his fellow Americans.

When he announced his candidacy for Governor of New Jersey last December, Senator Corzine pledged he would ``fight like crazy to make sure that there is a view that government can be a partner in lifting up the lives of the rest of America.'' This is surely what he has done in the Senate.

In just 5 short years, notwithstanding his junior status in a body that sets a high premium on seniority--when I first came here I was very critical of the seniority system, but I have to admit that as time has gone by I have come to see the virtues of the system. Jon Corzine has had an impressive record of accomplishment. He has demonstrated the astute and principled leadership in the Senate that will most assuredly make him a distinguished Governor of the State of New Jersey in the service of all its people.

If I may be so bold as to address a word to the people of New Jersey, I simply say they have an extraordinary leader about to take over as the Governor of their State. I urge them to give Jon Corzine their backing and support so he can bring his vision to bear in the State of New Jersey.

When Woodrow Wilson became Governor of the State of New Jersey, he introduced a progressive agenda which became the model for the Nation. New Jersey went to the very forefront of the 50 States in addressing fairness and opportunity for its citizens and enhancing their quality of life. I say today, as we bid our dear colleague a fond farewell, Jon Corzine can provide that kind of leadership for New Jersey. He can move that State to the very forefront of the 50 States and make it a shining example of what can be accomplished when all of us pull together in order to enhance opportunity for each and every one. I wish him the very best as he leaves this body and in the years ahead.

I yield the floor.

Will the Senator yield me 30 seconds?

I thank the very able Senator from California for her yielding to allow these tributes to be paid to Senator Corzine. I know she has been here quite a while waiting to speak on another issue. It was extremely gracious of her to do that. I wanted to recognize that and thank her very much.

Mr. President, today the Senate was presented with a false choice on the conference report to H.R. 3199, the USA PATRIOT Act. That is why I voted against the motion to invoke cloture. There is a better way that gives us the time we need to thoughtfully debate some very weighty constitutional and civil liberty issues. With 90 percent of the PATRIOT Act already permanently authorized, we can and should extend the provisions expiring on December 31, 2005, for 3 months.

Let me be clear, those of us advocating for a 3-month extension support reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act. What we want to do is keep the law intact, exactly as it is right now, so that we can more carefully debate these important matters without feeling rushed by the impending adjournment of this session of Congress.

Like almost everyone in this Chamber, I voted for the PATRIOT Act shortly after the September 11 terrorist attacks. I believed the PATRIOT Act would bolster the ability of Federal authorities to conduct criminal and intelligence investigations, to bar and expel foreign terrorists from the United States, to separate terrorists from their sources of financial support, to punish acts of terrorism, and to assist victims of the events of September 11. While I had reservations about some parts of this legislation, the need to address the obvious threat, combined with the fact that many of the more untested provisions in the act were set to expire on December 31, 2005, prompted me to vote for the bill.

The provision of greater investigative authority to our Nation's law enforcement officials is a matter that raises many issues, most particularly, the need to balance Government power and civil liberties. Certainly, there is a great onus upon the Department of Justice, DOJ, to utilize the awesome authority of the PATRIOT Act in a circumspect and cautious manner. At the same time, Congress has a responsibility to conduct vigorous oversight on the use of the PATRIOT Act's powers and to carefully debate any changes to these powers.

In the spring, in anticipation of the impending need to reauthorize the sunsetting provisions of the PATRIOT Act, I cosponsored S. 737, the Security and Freedom Enhancement, SAFE, Act of 2005. This thoughtful, bipartisan legislation was introduced by Senator Craig on April 6, 2005, and seeks to revise and improve--not eliminate--several of the more controversial provisions of the PATRIOT Act, including roving wiretaps, sneak-and-peek searches, and FISA orders for library and other personal records.

Many of the proposed revisions to the PATRIOT Act in S.737 were ultimately incorporated in some form into S. 1389, the Senate version of the PATRIOT Act reauthorization. S. 1389, the USA PATRIOT Act Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act, passed by unanimous consent in July and the Senate immediately appointed conferees so that the House and the Senate could begin discussing their very different visions of the reauthorization. Unfortunately, the House waited until November to appoint its conferees, which in large part is why we are now in the position of having very little time to debate and resolve the differences between the two bills.

The Senate's version of the PATRIOT Act attempted to deal with many of the civil liberties issues that have come to the fore since the passage of the PATRIOT Act. In particular, S. 1389 would require that the Department of Justice convince a judge that a person is connected to terrorism or espionage before obtaining their library records, medical records, or other sensitive information. It would require that targets of sneak-and-peek searches are notified within 7 days, instead of the undefined delay that is currently permitted under the PATRIOT Act. The Senate bill also would prohibit the issuance of ``John Doe'' roving wiretaps, which identify neither the person nor the place to be put under surveillance.

Additionally, S. 1389 would give the recipient of an order for sensitive personal information the right to challenge the order in court on the same grounds they could challenge a grand jury subpoena, as well as provide a right to challenge the gag order that currently prevents people who receive a request for records from speaking out even if they feel the Government is violating their rights. The legislation also requires increased reporting by the DOJ on its use of PATRIOT Act powers and sets a 4-year sunset on three provisions regarding roving wiretaps, business record orders, and ``lone wolf'' surveillance.

Unlike the Senate bill, the House version proposed to permanently reauthorize all but two of the expiring provisions--instead it sunsets FISA orders for library and other personal records and the roving wiretap provision after 10 years--and placed few, if any, limits on many of the expanded law enforcement powers in the PATRIOT Act.

Unfortunately, the conference report has removed or weakened some of the most important limits on enhanced investigative powers in the Senate bill, particularly those relating to FISA orders for library, medical, and other types of business records about people, National Security Letters, and notification of sneak-and-peek searches. We need to reauthorize the expiring provisions of the PATRIOT Act, but we need to do so with procedural safeguards like those in the Senate bill.

The Senate is known as the more contemplative body in Congress for a reason, and I think we should take the time we need to truly debate and discuss some important civil liberties issues that the conference report implicates. For this reason, I have cosponsored Senator Sununu's bill, S. 2082, which would extend the expiring provisions of the PATRIOT Act until March 31, 2006. I believe that 3 months is enough time for us to come back after the holidays and work out the differences between the House and Senate versions of the PATRIOT Act reauthorization. I would encourage all of my colleagues to do the same.

Mr. President, it is a privilege to be here today to say a few words about my colleague and friend, Jon Corzine. He has honored this Senate and he has honored the people of New Jersey with his service.

I did not know Jon before he came here. I heard about his campaign. I heard about his success on Wall Street. I, frankly, must confess, I did not know what quite to expect. Having seen the movie ``Wall Street,'' I almost thought that Michael Douglas would walk in the door in a $3,000 suit and with expensive accoutrements.

Jon surprised us all because he is not like that. He might have found his success on Wall Street, but his values were formed in the heartland of America and in the U.S. Marine Corps. He believes very deeply in values that are important and central to our party and to the people of this country: the notion of opportunity for all and the notion that this is a community, not just a collection of individuals.

His service in this body has exemplified those values and made us all extraordinarily proud. I served with Jon on the Senate Banking Committee. As the chairman and ranking member at various times of the Housing and Transportation Subcommittee, I was familiar with all of Jon's efforts in making real progress on issues of importance to the people of New Jersey and the people of this country.

My friend and colleague, Senator Sarbanes, has pointed out some of these, and I would like to, for the Record, amplify again what Jon has done.

The Federal Housing Administration Multifamily Housing Program provides insurance to those seeking to build multifamily rental housing. The program has played a critical role in the development of affordable multifamily rental housing. However, as the cost of building new housing has dramatically increased in recent years, Federal multifamily mortgage insurance loan limits have failed to keep pace with inflation.

In 2002, Senator Corzine led the way to secure passage of a provision to raise FHA multifamily loan limits by indexing them to the annual construction cost index to ensure that the program keeps pace with inflation.

In 2003, Senator Corzine further improved the FHA multifamily loan program by securing passage of legislation to boost those limits in high-cost communities around the country.

Specifically, his legislation raised the loan limits in high-cost areas to 140 percent of the statutory base limit and by 170 percent on a project-by-project basis.

These increases have been vitally important in the construction and rehabilitation of affordable rental housing in high-cost States such as New Jersey and my own State of Rhode Island where the shortage of affordable housing has become a crisis.

Jon recognizes that at the heart of every family's efforts to educate their children, to find work, to hold work, is the need for safe and affordable housing. Senator Corzine has been on the vanguard of that effort. I salute him for that.

He has also been particularly concerned about housing for veterans. The Veterans' Administration Home Loan Program provides access to home financing for veterans who often, because of their time spent serving our Nation, have not had the opportunity to build up the credit they need to qualify for a conventional mortgage. Senator Corzine's legislation to increase veterans' home purchasing power, which became law as part of the Veterans Benefits Improvement Act of 2004, raised the loan limits available under the VA Home Loan Program to allow veterans to obtain mortgages of up to $333,700, the same level available in the traditional mortgage market.

Finally, the Senator from New Jersey has been a fierce advocate for mass transit funding, not in his home State of New Jersey but across this country. He has been particularly effective, though, in helping his home State.

Senator Corzine was instrumental in providing legislation to help build a commuter rail tunnel under the Hudson River as part of the recently passed Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equity Act: A Legacy for Users. The language that Senator Corzine included will expedite the proposed rail tunnel under the Hudson River and require the Federal Transit Administration to sign a Full Funding Grant Agreement with New Jersey Transit that will provide the Federal funding needed to complete the tunnel, and in so doing not only will he assist the people of New Jersey, but he will assist the economy of this Nation, since so much is dependent upon transit access through New Jersey to the Eastern Seaboard, Boston, New York and down to Washington.

We all are going to miss Senator Corzine immensely in the Senate, but he is going forth now to a mission that is equally important; that is, to serve the people of New Jersey as their Governor. I know he will be successful. And I know those values of opportunity and community and fairness and tolerance and decency that exemplified his service in the Senate will mark him as a remarkable Governor for the State of New Jersey.

I yield the floor.

Mr. President, I rise in support of legislation that I reintroduced today with a number of my Senate colleagues--the Volunteer Pilot Organization Protection Act of 2005.

The spirit of volunteerism is indelibly rooted in our Nation's history. From when early settlers landed in Jamestown in 1607 to when our citizen soldiers took up arms against the British Crown in the Revolutionary War, volunteerism has always been a part of American culture.

But that unwavering spirit did not stop there, it has continued and thrived in many individuals and charitable organizations today. One such group of organizations that has selflessly given back so much to Virginians and Americans are charitable medical transportation systems operated by volunteer pilot organizations, VPOs.

The mission and purpose of public benefit and non-profit volunteer pilot organizations involved in patient transport is to ensure that no financially needy patient is denied access to distant specialized medical evaluation, diagnosis or treatment for lack of a means of long- distance medical air transportation. The principal goal is to remove the geographical and financial burdens that would deny access to specialized care.

Last year public benefit flying non-profit volunteer pilot organizations provided long-distance, no-cost transportation for over 40,000 patients and their escorts in times of special need. Mr. President, this year, that figure will likely grow to roughly 54,000 people.

One such organization that has played an intricate part in this mission is Angel Flight. Angel Flight is a not-for-profit grassroots organization with a volunteer corps of more than 6,200 volunteer pilots/plane owners--divided into six regions across the United States--who fly under the banner of Angel Flight America. Angel Flight provides flights of hope and healing by transporting patients and their families in private planes, free of charge, to hospitals for medical treatment.

Following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, the Department of Transportation and the FAA closed airports and grounded commercial air traffic, but the FAA allowed Angel Flight volunteers to fly. Angel Flight pilots flew firefighters, families of victims of the bombings, Red Cross personnel, medical and other supplies including the protective booties for the Search and Rescue dogs to New York and Washington, DC.

In my years of public service, I have always maintained that we must provide access to care to all Virginians and Americans. Medical care should be available to all individuals. Sadly, our Nation is facing a medical crisis. Medical malpractice insurance costs and Medicare physician reimbursement are forcing many of our doctors to stop seeing ``high-risk'' patients or Medicare beneficiaries and in some cases forcing our doctors to give up practice altogether and retire. As a result, patients have to travel great distances to receive the medical care that they need to live happy, healthy and productive lives. Unfortunately, a number of these patients do not have the financial means to travel long distances, thus, ultimately denying patients access to life-saving or quality of life improving specialized treatment.

We can say the same with patients who rely on volunteer pilot organizations such as Angel Flight or one of its subsidiary groups like Mercy Medical Airlift in my home Commonwealth of Virginia. Unfortunately, due to the public's apparent notion that organizations that use airplanes are financially well-off and have deep pockets, many of the volunteer pilot organizations are open to frivolous and junk lawsuits. This leads to an access to care issue.

Also, aviation insurance has skyrocketed up in price and non-owned aircraft liability insurance is no longer reasonably available to volunteer pilot organizations. Many insurance companies had always provided this type of insurance but post September 11, 2001, this insurance is scarcely found and if found, the costs have increased greatly, to the astronomical sums of $5 million a year. Because of the exorbitant costs of insurance, volunteer pilot organizations have a difficult time recruiting and retaining pilots and professional persons.

I would like to submit an editorial written by the Virginian Pilot. This editorial correctly identifies the obstacles that these volunteer pilot organizations have to go through. I would like that editorial inserted here.

That is why I decided to introduce the Volunteer Pilot Organization Protection Act. In 1997, Congress passed the Volunteer Protection Act, which handled much of the liability issue for volunteer endeavors in the country; however, this legislation did not adequately address aviation-related matters.

My bill amends the highly regarded Good Samaritan Act to provide necessary liability protections in the area of charitable medical air transportation and promote volunteer pilot organizations. More specifically, this legislation will protect volunteer pilot organizations, their boards and small paid staff and nonflying volunteers from liability should there be an accident. The VPOs are simply the ``match-makers'' between the volunteer pilot willing to help a neighbor and the needy patient family. The pilot has full and sole responsibility for conducting the flight in a safe manner in accordance with Federal Aviation Regulations. In addition, this legislation will provide liability protection for the individual volunteer pilot over and above the liability insurance that they are required to carry.

Furthermore, the Volunteer Pilot Protection Act will provide liability protection for ``referring agencies'' who tell their patients that the charitable flight service is available. Referring hospitals and clinics are becoming unwilling to inform their patients that charitable medical air transportation help is available for fear of a liability against them should something happen in a subsequent volunteer pilot flight. Hence, organizations like the Shriners Hospital System and the American Cancer Society would be able to make known available volunteer pilot services to transport their patients to Shriners or other hospitals where they receive care.

I know a few people have concerns that this bill would provide blanket immunity to Volunteer Pilot Organizations but I want to stress that my bill requires insurance on the part of the pilot and if there is negligence on behalf of the pilot, the injured party does have legal recourse. This bill does not provide blanket immunity to VPOs, but has been carefully worded to allow

legal action to be brought against the insurance policy of the pilot in event of negligence.

By providing volunteer pilots with liability protection, insurance rates for these pilots will ultimately be reduced. Therefore, more pilots will be able to afford insurance and fly for the public good. With less-costly insurance available, I am confident that more pilots will generously give their time to fly for and help the medically needy.

This bill enjoys the support of a number of charitable organizations, including the Children's Organ Transplant Association, the National Organization for Rare Disorders, the Air Care Alliance, the Independent Charities of America, the Health and Medical Research Charities of America, the National Association of Hospital Hospitality Houses, and many others.

Not only does this legislation enjoy the support of numerous charitable organizations, it also enjoyed the support of the United States House of Representatives. On September 14, 2004, the House of Representatives passed the Volunteer Pilot Organization Protection Act of2004 by a vote of 385-12. Mr. President, this is a clear indication that this bill has broad bipartisan support in the House and I know the House will once again pass this commonsense legislation.

I am confident that this legislation will start a trend to help curb the large amounts of counterproductive lawsuits, lower insurance costs, and promote the spirit of volunteerism that has been rooted in the framework of our country's storied history. I, along with the volunteer pilots and organizations, and with the thousands of families who rely and may rely on the help of volunteer pilot organizations, urge the Senate to quickly and finally pass this legislation in the 109th Congress.

I would like to thank Congresswoman Thelma Drake, our newest member to the Virginia team, for taking over this legislation for former Congressman Ed Schrock and introducing the companion bill on the House side. In addition, I would also like to thank the original cosponsors of this legislation, Senators Chambliss, Inhofe, Coburn, Talent, Cornyn, and Isakson for their support as we work to pass this vitally necessary legislation.

[From the (Norfolk) Virginian-Pilot,

Mar. 11, 2003]

Shield Helpful Pilots From Frivolous Lawsuits

In the realm of volunteers, few outshine the generous folks

at Angel Flight.

This nonprofit organization flies patients for whom air

transport would be otherwise unaffordable to medical

facilities around the country. Private pilots spirit

individuals to dialysis, chemotherapy sessions, organ

transplants and other surgeries by donating their aircraft

and their valuable time. The goal is a noble one: to ensure

that no one in need is denied medical care for lack of long-

distance transportation.

But in our lawsuit-happy society, even these warmhearted

souls can't escape the possibility of landing in court. While

a law known as the Volunteer Protection Act shields most

people who give their time to worthy causes from frivolous

suits, it doesn't cover volunteer pilots or flight

organizers. Liability insurance costs for Angel Flight and

similar nonprofits have skyrocketed from $1,000 to more than

$25,000 annually.

This prohibitive price tag threatens the future of Angel

Flight, which is funded solely through donations. A

spokeswoman for Angel Flight Mid-Atlantic, headquartered in

Virginia Beach, said the burden will ultimately fall on sick

and needy patients. And with 600 volunteer pilots

transporting an average of 100 medical cases a month,

literally thousands of lives may be affected by this

oversight in the law.

Fortunately, lawmakers are paying attention. U.S. Rep. Ed

Schrock recently introduced bipartisan legislation to add

volunteer-pilot organizations to the ranks of those covered

by the Volunteer Protection Act. U.S. Sen. George Allen is

expected to introduce a similar measure in the Senate.

Congress should pass these bills, the sooner the better.

Keeping Angel Flight aloft is literally a life-and-death

matter.

I thank my friend from Vermont.

Mr. President, when this bill left the Senate, under the leadership of Senators Specter and Leahy, we had a balanced bill with provisions which protected both our security and our liberty. We are all very much in their debt for the bill that left the Senate a few months ago. But what now has come back to the Senate is a bill which contains provisions which could sweep into the net of a fishing expedition the most private records of innocent Americans. The conference report amends section 215 of the PATRIOT Act. This is one of many examples, and 3 minutes only allows one example. Section 215 permits the Government to seek court orders, to compel the production of any tangible thing, including library and medical records, in foreign intelligence investigations. Under the new provision, the Government need not describe, much less identify, a particular person to whom the records relate. The PATRIOT Act's standard in the conference report fails to narrow the scope of records that the Government can subpoena to less than the entire universe of records of people who, for instance, patronize the library or visit a doctor's office.

One example of that: The Government could seek all of a doctor's records, if it has an allegation that some unidentified patient of the doctor was sending money to an organization in the Middle East that was being looked at as part of a foreign intelligence investigation and the government thought that reviewing all of the records of that doctor might help identify that unidentified person.

Therefore, the Government argues, all of that doctor's records are relevant to a foreign intelligence investigation.

The same thing with library records; all of a library's records would be subject to being turned over to the Government if the Government has an allegation that somebody, one unidentified person, is using that library for some purpose; for instance, its computer, to have access to some organization in the Middle East that is involved in a terrorist organization. Everybody's library records would be swept into that net.

When this bill left the Senate, it had protective provisions against that. There had to be a showing, not just of relevance to a foreign intelligence investigation, there had to be a showing that the records sought were relevant and either pertained to a foreign power or an agent of a foreign power, were relevant to the activities of a suspected agent of a foreign power who is the subject of an authorized investigation, or pertained to an individual in contact with or known to be a suspected agent. In other words, the order had to be linked to some identifiable individual or suspected agent. Those protections are missing.

This is not the first time that Congress has addressed this issue. For instance, the Internal Revenue Code places limitations on what it calls ``John Doe'' summons for the production of certain taxpayer records.

Under 26 U.S.C. 2709 any summons which:

Does not identify the person with respect to whose

liability the summons is issued may be served only after a

court proceeding in which the Secretary establishes that--

(1) the summons relates to the investigation of a

particular person or ascertainable group or class of persons,

(2) there is a reasonable basis for believing that such

person or group or class of persons may fail or may have

failed to comply with any provision of any internal revenue

law, and

(3) the information sought to be obtained from the

examination of the records or testimony (and the identity of

the person or persons with respect to whose liability the

summons is issued) is not readily available from other

sources.

Some kind of narrowing language should be included in the Patriot Act for 215 orders. Without it, the PATRIOT Act authorizes the rankest kind of fishing expedition.

In addition to the problem with the standard for issuing 215 order, a gag order can be imposed by the FBI to prevent the library from telling people that their records were turned over. That means innocent Americans might never know that the government was looking into their reading habits or medical records. Further, while some argue that the recipient of a gag order could challenge that gag order in court, the conference report is not at all clear on this point. During staff negotiations, language that would have clarified the right to challenge a gag order was rejected. The idea of a permanent, unreviewable restraint on the First Amendment rights of American citizens is deeply troubling.

To add insult to injury, if the library wanted to seek legal advice, this conference report requires the library to tell the government who it had consulted even if the lawyer consulted had turned down the case.

The conference report is similarly flawed in its treatment of National Security Letters or NSLs. NSLs compel phone companies and banks, for example, to turn over certain customer records. The government can issue an NSL without going to court. And, like 215 court orders, NSLs can be issued without identifying anyone in particular that the government suspects is a terrorist or spy. Again, the government does not have to show any connection between the records sought and a person who the government thinks is a terrorist or spy. And like 215 orders, the government can impose a gag order on the recipient of an NSL.

While the conference report does permit recipients of NSLs to challenge gag orders in court, it severely constrains the court's discretion to review the gag order, potentially rendering the review meaningless. Under the conference report, if the Attorney General or another specified senior official certifies that disclosure may endanger national security or harm diplomatic relations, the court may modify or set it aside it only if it finds ``bad faith'' on behalf of the government.

And, like 215 court orders, if the recipient of an NSL wanted to seek legal advice before turning over records, the conference report would require the recipient to tell the government who they had consulted.

Also troubling about the NSL authority is that there is no requirement that the government destroy records acquired with an NSL that are irrelevant to the investigation under which they've been gathered. These are records that relate to innocent Americans. The government should be required to destroy them if they contain no relevant material.

I outlined many of my concerns in a December 7th letter to the Chairman and Ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee. I'd ask consent that a copy of that letter be placed in the record.

As I and my fellow Senate Democratic conferees said in a December 8th letter to the Chairmen of the House and Senate Judiciary Committees, the conference report falls short of what the American people have every reason to expect Congress to achieve in defending their rights while advancing their security. Congress should not rush ahead to enact flawed legislation to meet a deadline that is within our power to extend. We owe it to the American people to get this right. If three more months are needed to make this an acceptable bill, then we should take and prudently use that time.

I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record a letter dated December 7, 2005.

Mr. President, although we will miss him greatly in the Senate, I join my colleagues in congratulating Senator Jon Corzine on his election as Governor of New Jersey. It has been a pleasure to serve with Jon on the Intelligence Committee and to work with him on issues of corporate accountability. He has been a strong and determined leader here, and I know he will continue to make the people of New Jersey proud in his new position.

Jon Corzine has led a distinctly American life. He grew up on a family farm. He served his country in the Marine Corps Reserves. He had extraordinary success in business as a self-made man. And he has continued to serve his country in public life, first as a Senator and soon as a Governor. Jon loves America and fights for what he believes is best for our people.

In the Senate, Jon has used the financial expertise he gained at Goldman Sachs to become a singularly credible voice for corporate reform. He was a driving force on the landmark Sarbanes-Oxley legislation, which cracked down on corporate abuses such as those that led to the Enron and WorldCom scandals. He has been a leader on strengthening oversight of the mutual fund industry and on protecting the financial privacy of Americans. Jon has also been at the forefront of promoting financial literacy, so that Americans can manage their personal finances wisely.

Working with Jon on the Intelligence Committee, I have seen Jon's piercing mental acumen and commitment to protecting our country. Following the September 11 attacks, which took a heavy toll on his State, Jon recognized the weakness of our system of chemical plant security. He seized that issue and did not let go. In October, Congress finally passed mandatory security requirements at chemical plants based on Jon's work. That this necessary improvement in our security will be substantially improved is due to his tenacity.

On every issue, Jon has been outspoken in support of policies that benefit working Americans. He has fought for universal health care, for expanded student aid, and for full funding for education programs. Jon has also been a passionate voice for human rights around the world. Just last month, the Senate approved the Darfur Peace and Accountability Act, which Jon sponsored with Senator Brownback, to help stop the genocide in the Sudan.

During his short time in the Senate, Jon Corzine has made a big impact. His is a unique voice that will be personally missed. I join my colleagues in saluting Jon on his election as Governor and in wishing him well in his new position.

Mr. President, today I voted against cloture on the PATRIOT Act reauthorization conference report. I want to make clear that this vote was not about whether I support reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act--I do. This vote was about whether I thought that the significant and unnecessary invasions into the privacy rights of all Americans were necessary to protect our national security--I do not.

Last July, the Senate passed by unanimous consent a PATRIOT Act reauthorization bill. I supported that bipartisan, compromise bill. Even though it did not contain all the privacy protections I would have liked, it took a lot of steps towards improving the problems in the PATRIOT Act that have become evidence since its passage. If that bill was on the floor today, I would support it.

But it is not. What we do have on the floor is a conference report that fails to address some of the most serious problems with the PATRIOT Act. For example, its version of Section 215 allows the Government to obtain library, medical, gun records, and other sensitive personal information on a mere showing that those records are relevant to an authorized intelligence investigation. That is it. Relevance is all that is required. The Senate bill, on the other hand would have established a three part test to determine whether the records have some connection to a suspected terrorist or spy. This seemingly small change will help prevent investigations which invade the privacy of American citizens that may have no connection to any suspected terrorist or spy. This is an important restriction.

In addition, unlike the Senate bill the conference report provides no mechanism for the recipient of a Section 215 order to challenge the accompanying automatic, permanent gag order. The FISA, Foreign Intelliegence Surveillance Act, court reviews are simply not sufficient. They have the power only to review the Government application for the underlying Section 215 order. They do not have the power to make an individualized determination about whether a gag order should accompany it. So the recipient of a Section 215 order is automatically silenced forever. How is that fair? How is that consistent with our democratic principles?

The conference report doesn't provide judicial review of National Security Letters either. The Senate bill did. Judicial review is one of our best checks on unnecessary Government intrusion into individual privacy. Why deny it to our citizens?

Lastly, I would like to mention the problem with the conference reports provisions on the so-called sneak-and-peek search warrants. Unlike the Senate bill, the conference report does not include any protections against these warrants. Rather than requiring that the government notify the target of these warrants within 7 days, as the Senate bill did, the conference report requires notification within 30 days of the search. Thirty days. That is an awfully long time to go before learning that you have been the subject of a Government search.

These are just a few of the problems with the conference report. They are

the most significant problems. Those in support know that it is flawed, but they are creating artificial time pressure to force us to approve the bill, flawed as it may be.

I realize that 16 provisions of the PATRIOT Act are set to expire. I certainly do not want that to happen. But passing this conference report is not the only way to prevent their expiration. That is why I have cosponsored legislation to extend those provisions by three months to allow us time to fix the problems with the conference report. If that effort fails and the PATRIOT Act expires, the blame rests only with the White House and leadership that controls the House and the Senate. There was and remains a simple, unified way to get this done, and they rejected it.

There is no reason why we cannot be safe and free. The Senate bill accomplished this. And, I will keep working with my colleagues in the Senate to ensure that whatever legislation we ultimately pass to reauthorize the PATRIOT Act also accomplishes this.

Mr. President, knowing Jon Corzine as I think I do, if he had known he was going to have to sit through all these speeches after he spoke, he would have come down here a lot later at night, I suspect, or certainly waited until we got out of town, because that is the nature of this Senator, Governor to be.

I have listened to my colleagues and I listened to his speech. He left us with some important warnings, some important pleas, which I hope colleagues will take seriously. I would incorporate

into my comments about Jon all of the things Senator Sarbanes said. They were a wonderful summary of what he did and how he did it, his accomplishments.

He did veterans, and he has been a passionate advocate for public transportation. He was instrumental in housing. These are the sorts of signal accomplishments you can measure, which he can point to and colleagues have, that define the few years he has been here.

I say a word or two about the things that helped push him in the direction of accomplishing those goals. What has always struck me about Jon Corzine and the thing that has been singled out in a number of comments made by my colleagues is the quality of the person, almost an improbable quality when you measure it against the profession he chose for so many years.

Maybe a comment about Wall Street, certainly a comment that I know Jon Corzine would articulate any number of different times in different ways, that we don't think of people traditionally, with the obvious exceptions, a Bob Rubin, some others. Jon Corzine always kept, No. 1, a great sense of idealism; No. 2, a very strong moral compass that led him to always distinguish between right and wrong; and, No. 3, an integrity about the approach to public life that willingly disclosed great wealth, willingly submitted himself to unbelievable attacks in order to pursue a greater good. Most people would shy away from that today. When you talk to people in the private sector today about running for office, they are quick to say: Do that? Why would I want to do that? Why would I want to subject myself to that? Why would I want to put myself through that scrutiny?

Jon Corzine has always been driven by his sense that there is too much missing in governance today, that there is a bigger purpose than all of us individually, a noble purpose in what we are trying to achieve. He believes unabashedly that Government can be part of the solution, that Government actually helps people. And unlike so much of the rhetoric of the last years that has attacked everything Government does until you have a Katrina, when you understand why you need it, or until you see the potholes in the streets and the bridges falling apart and you begrudgingly acknowledge you need it, Jon always believes you need it proactively. He understands the good it can do.

Every one of us who has had the privilege of being here for awhile was impressed by that passion and moral compass he brought to some of the issues. When business people in America were abusing their trust, Jon brought this extraordinary credibility to that debate. There are huge provisions, as Senator Sarbanes will tell us, and a great deal of guidance through that process that came from this freshman Senator.

Likewise, with respect to Darfur, an issue where the country ought to be providing a sense of moral outrage, Jon doggedly and tenaciously pursued that issue without grandstanding, without trying to do it in a way that was sort of hit and run. He stayed at it and got the Senate ultimately to take some measures, though never what we ought to be doing, and the country has yet to do what he knows and understands we ought to be doing.

He always has had a sense of right and wrong. The minimum wage, the incomprehensibility of us being a country where people can live out work values and you can't live, and his sense of injustice at giving a tax cut to people such as him who have been blessed with the fruits of great wealth, who understand that there is a different set of priorities, a sense of outrage that we would be cutting children off of Medicaid, and so on down the list.

I am thrilled, and I know when I was privileged to be in New Jersey, I could feel it in the people of New Jersey who obviously were inundated with an onslaught of confusing and reprehensible kinds of claims in the context of a campaign, which we have seen too much of, but he plowed through that, because of that idealism and his sense of purpose for the State. Those folks are anticipating the same kind of excitement that he said in his comments he will bring to this new challenge.

The people of New Jersey have chosen wisely. They are going to have a leader who will do exactly what Senator Sarbanes talked about. He has the opportunity to make that State one of the great laboratories in the country, to do what we are unsuccessful and unwilling to do too often at this moment in our history here in Washington. I almost envy him that opportunity to grab the executive reins and go out and do it. He is going to be an exceptional Governor. He is going to continue to have an impact on what Congress chooses to do because of those priorities that he sets in the State.

There is no question in my mind that our caucus, which has looked to him regularly as sort of the resident expert on issues of fiscal, trade, Wall Street matters, is going to miss that expertise enormously.

I thank this Senator for his service to us, to the country, and we look forward to the service he will provide as Governor of New Jersey.

Mr. President, I rise today to speak in opposition to closing off debate on the PATRIOT Act conference report as it has come back to the Senate.

The events of September 11 demonstrated various deficiencies in our understanding of the terrorist threat and our capabilities in terms of combating terrorism. In response, Congress acted decisively and passed the PATRIOT Act to ensure that our Government has all the tools necessary to protect the American people. I supported that legislation.

The PATRIOT Act, as originally enacted, was 342 pages long and contained 10 titles and 116 sections. The bill improved our laws with regard to international money laundering, terrorism financing, intelligence gathering, surveillance, cooperation between law enforcement and intelligence authorities, and strengthened our criminal laws relating to terrorism. The vast majority of these provisions are not expiring. They remain the law of the land. Indeed, only 16 of the most controversial sections in the bill contained sunset provisions.

Congress recognized that we were extending to law enforcement and intelligence authorities expansive new surveillance powers and that it was important to go back and look at how these powers have been used and whether we needed to make any changes in the law to ensure that Americans' civil liberties are protected. While I support the reauthorization of these expiring provisions, I believe that there are

changes that need to be made to address some of the problematic provisions.

Let me be clear. I support giving law enforcement the tools necessary to aggressively fight terrorism but believe that modest modifications are required to ensure that we protect constitutional rights and properly balance civil liberties with national security concerns. To this end, in July the Senate unanimously passed a bipartisan bill that would reauthorize the PATRIOT Act with important safeguards in place to protect the rights of Americans. Although this bill wasn't perfect, it struck a reasonable balance between giving law enforcement the tools they need and protecting civil liberties.

When the PATRIOT Act was originally passed in 2001, Congress provided that some of the controversial provisions, such as section 215 which allows the Government access to library and medical records, would expire in 2006.

One example of where the current version of the bill falls short is with regard to section 215, the so-called library provision which allows the Government to obtain sensitive personal records, including library, business, and medical records, of Americans by merely saying that they are relevant to a terrorism investigation. This provides the Government almost unfettered authority to look at the personal records of Americans. Under the Senate-passed bill, the Government would have to demonstrate that the person whose records they are seeking has some connection to a suspected terrorist or spy.

In particular, the Government would have to show that, No. 1, the records pertain to a suspected terrorist or a spy; or No. 2, that the records pertain to an individual in contact with a suspected terrorist or a spy; or No. 3, that the records are relevant to the activities of a suspected terrorist or spy. It is reasonable to require that if the Government is going to look at the private records of Americans without a traditional warrant that the Government show at a minimum that the request for records has some connection to a terrorist and isn't just part of a fishing expedition.

In addition, when a person receives a section 215 order requesting medical records or library records, the person who receives this request is subject to an automatic and permanent gag order that prevents them from speaking about the order or challenging the gag order in court. Similar restrictions on challenging gag orders have been found to be unconstitutional and a violation of the first amendment.

Another section of the bill that is of great concern relates to national security letters, or NSLs. These requests for documents are similar to section 215 orders except that they do not require any court approval at all. Although a section 215 order needs to be approved by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, a NSL is simply issued by the FBI, without any judicial review, to a business to obtain certain records, such as financial records, that it believes are relevant to a terrorism or intelligence investigation.

The conference report does allow a NSL recipient to challenge the NSL in court, but it also stipulates that regardless of whether there are national security concerns, all of the Government's submissions are secret and cannot be shared with the person challenging the order. And to be clear, the business being denied knowledge of the ``governmental submissions'' is not the target of the investigation but the recipient of the order for the requested documents.

Also the recipient of the NSL is subject to an automatic gag order. Although the gag order can be challenged in court, the only way to prevail is to demonstrate that the Government is acting in bad faith, a burden that is almost impossible to prove.

I also have concerns about other aspects of the conference report, such as the ``sneak and peek'' provision which allows law enforcement to search homes without notifying individuals of the search for an extended period of time.

This bill has profound implications on the constitutional rights of Americans, and I strongly believe that we shouldn't be hastily approving a bill that falls short of adequately protecting civil liberties.

Simply reauthorizing the most controversial provisions and saying that we will take another look at the bill in 4 years when the new sunset provisions expire is not the appropriate way to deal with this issue. It has been 4 years since the bill was enacted and it is time that Congress addresses the substantive problems with the act.

The Senate has demonstrated that it is prepared to reauthorize all of the expiring provisions, and there is no need to pass this version of the bill in its flawed form. I agree with Senator Leahy that we should temporarily extend the PATRIOT Act for 3 months to give Congress more time to work out the remaining issues in a thoughtful way. It is my hope that a solution can be reached that reflects the commonsense improvements that were included in the Senate-passed version of the bill.

Mr. President, I rise to speak briefly about our colleague Senator Jon Corzine, congratulate him on his recent election as Governor of New Jersey, and also thank him for his great contribution to the Senate and to the entire country during the time he served here.

Jon came to the Senate from a very successful career on Wall Street. We are all aware of that. He came here for the best of reasons: his desire to make a difference, to improve the situation of average Americans in this country, to see that this country pursued an economic course that created opportunity and jobs for the people he represented in New Jersey and throughout this country.

On economic issues, I think all of us in the Senate came to believe-- I certainly did--that no one was better able to read the tea leaves about what was happening economically in this country, what was happening in the various economic statistics which come out each week, than Jon Corzine. He could understand the economic circumstance we continue to struggle with in this country and the impact it is having on the lives of average Americans.

While he has been here, he has demonstrated a passion for fairness to all in our society. He has not been a representative of Wall Street. He has been a representative of the great mass of the American people. He has looked to raise the standard of living of all Americans and lift all boats. We all owe him a debt of gratitude for that passion he has brought to this job.

I serve as the ranking Democrat on the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee. We have been very fortunate that Jon has served on that committee as well. He has been an active participant in the writing of energy legislation, which we passed earlier this year. He made a great contribution in that legislation. In short, Jon has had a very distinguished career in the Senate. I am confident he will have a very distinguished career as Governor of New Jersey and will have a very long and successful career in public life.

Again I congratulate him on his victory. I thank him for his service and his friendship, and I look forward to opportunities to work with him again in his new capacity as Governor of New Jersey.

I yield the floor.

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.

I announce that the Senator from Connecticut (Mr. Dodd) is necessarily absent.

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.