As the Summer Drew to a Close Songtext

von Barack Obama

Ion below transcribed directly from audio
Thank you very much, Mr. President.
You know, four years ago, following the most devastating attack in our history, this Body
Passed the USA PATRIOT Act in order to give our Nation's law enforcement the tools they
Needed to track down terrorists who plot and lurk within our own borders and all over the
World; terrorists who, right now, are looking to exploit weaknesses in our laws and our
Security to carry out attacks that may be even deadlier than those that took place on
September 11th.
We all agree that we need legislation to make it harder for suspected terrorists to go
Undetected in this country. And we all agree that we needed to make it harder for them to
Organize and strategize and get flight licenses and sneak across our borders. Americans
Everywhere wanted to do that.
But soon after the PATRIOT Act passed, a few years before I even arrived here in the Senate,
I began hearing concerns from people of every background and political leaning that this law,
The very purpose of which was to protect us, was also threatening to violate some of the
Rights and freedoms that we hold most dear; that it didn't just provide law enforcement the
Powers it needed to keep us safe but powers that it didn't need to invade our priv