[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 5] [House] [Pages 6299-6300] [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]WHERE IS THE LEADERSHIP? The SPEAKER pro tempore. Under a previous order of the House, the gentleman from Georgia (Mr. Price) is recognized for 5 minutes. Mr. PRICE of Georgia. Madam Speaker, I note as I come to the well here that it's now 2:49 p.m. on a Thursday afternoon, a time when across this Nation the folks who worked the day shift are getting ready to complete their work; the folks who are working the afternoon or evening shift are getting ready to head off to work or on their way to work; and the folks who work the midnight shift across the Nation are probably just rubbing their eyes as they wake up and begin their day or bedding down as they begin their rest before they get back at it again this evening. Where is the House of Representatives? Well, Madam Speaker, you look around the House of Representatives and they've gone home. They've all gone home. Now, why is that important? Well it's important, Madam Speaker, because I think it demonstrates another day demonstrating the crisis of leadership that we have in this House of Representatives. Madam Speaker, I come to the well today at this time to document that we [[Page 6300]] are now 62 days into a unilateral disarmament of the United States of America as it relates to folks who want to do us harm all across this world, 62 days in which we have not had in place the Protect America Act, 62 days in which we have not had in place the appropriate rules and protections for communication companies to allow our United States Government to listen and intercept electronic communication between a foreign individual in a foreign land who wishes to do America harm and another foreign individual in a foreign land who wishes to do us harm. Did you get that, Madam Speaker? Non-U.S. citizen, not on U.S. soil, talking or communicating through electronic communication to another non-U.S. citizen, not on U.S. soil, about how to injure Americans either on the battlefield or here in our homeland. It's called the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The bill was the Protect America Act. Sixty-two days ago, the leadership in this House of Representatives allowed that to expire. And why? For some reason, they believed that lawyers ought to be able to represent that foreign individual in a foreign land who want to do us harm with the same protections that you and I enjoy as American citizens. Madam Speaker, when I go home to the Sixth District of Georgia and I tell people about this, they shake their head and say, what on earth is going on? Where is the leadership? And I agree. Where is the leadership? Madam Speaker, there is a crisis of leadership in this House of Representatives, whether it is on the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or the Protect America Act, to allow our intelligence community the tools that they need to keep us protected. Whether it's on not doing anything positive about the price of gasoline all across this Nation, the only thing this House has done, this leadership has done is to increase the cost of domestic production of oil by increasing taxes. And who pays those ultimately? You got it, Madam Speaker. Americans. Whether it is allowing the free and fair trade agreement with Colombia to not come to the floor, to change the rules so that it can't come to the floor so that we kick in the teeth the only real friend that we have in South America, one of the few friends we have in South America, a democratically elected government; or whether it is, again, not allowing our intelligence community to listen to a terrorist on foreign soil, talking to another terrorist on foreign soil so that we know what the bad guys are going to do before they do it. Madam Speaker, that's a crisis of leadership. ____________________