James Sensenbrenner, October 14, 2004

Throughout the year, Americans have been inundated with information on various important political issues. Unfortunately, much of the information that’s been disseminated has been distorted to such an extent that the end result is not only an exaggeration, but false. One issue important to me, and to the vast majority of Americans, is the war against terrorism. Several myths about this struggle, and about the rights of American citizens, have been promulgated of late. I would like to take this opportunity to set the record straight on a few major fallacies.

False: During the second presidential debate, Senator Kerry repeated a statement I once made about the PATRIOT Act, ("over my dead body"), implying that this was a reflection of my support of his position on the Act.
True: I oppose Senator Kerry’s position of making immediate changes to the PATRIOT Act. As the author of this anti-terrorism legislation, I find it irresponsible for Senator Kerry to mislead the public by characterizing my comments as a slight on the bill, or on the work of President Bush and Congress. Since the inclusion of the sunset provision in the Act, I have opposed efforts to renew or expand the law prematurely. This is why I said that a permanent extension of the Act before its provisions expired in 2005 would occur "over my dead body," reflecting my opposition to a hasty renewal of the law without having a chance to consider its effectiveness.

False: HR 10, the 9/11 Recommendations Implementation Act, will expand the PATRIOT Act, against the recommendations of the 9/11 Commission.
True: Not only is there no expansion of the PATRIOT Act in this new proposal, which passed both chambers of Congress earlier this month, but each and every provision in this bill that is within the Judiciary Committee’s jurisdiction, is tied directly to a specific recommendation made by the 9/11 Commission.

False: According to a recent advertisement, the 9/11 bill will take away "even more of the basic rights and liberties that have served as cornerstones of our democracy for more than 200 years."
True: The 9/11 legislation actually creates new protections, including requiring the National Intelligence Director to appoint a Civil Liberties Protection Officer who would be responsible for ensuring that civil liberties and privacy protections are appropriately incorporated in intelligence policies and procedures. Moreover, other government agencies with anti-terrorism roles would have a similar requirement. The bill requires that government agency rulemaking take into consideration impacts on individual privacy.

False: President Bush and Republicans in Congress want to reinstitute the national military draft.
True: Opponents of President Bush have tried for months now to spread fear among millions of college students and other young Americans by claiming that they may be drafted to serve in the Armed Forces. To set the record straight, on October 5, the House of Representatives brought to the floor a bill to reinstitute a national military draft that was introduced by New York Democratic Representative Charles Rangel. At the end of the day, zero Republicans and only 2 Democrats voted for the bill. Even the bill’s sponsor, Congressman Rangel, voted against his own bill, exposing it for the fear-mongering legislation it was.

These are but a few of the most recent misleading pieces of information circling the country. I have highlighted them so as to dispel these misconceptions, which will help create an informed and prepared citizenship. In order to prevail in the war against terrorism, Americans need to be armed with the truth.

Congressman James Sensenbrenner, a Republican, represents the Fifth Congressional District of Wisconsin. He serves as chairman of the House Committee on the Judiciary. The Fifth District of Wisconsin forms an arc surrounding Milwaukee to the North and West, and includes parts of Jefferson, Milwaukee and Waukesha counties, and all of Ozaukee and Washington counties.