two thirds being in the affirmative the rules are suspended the resolution is agreed to and without objection the motion to reconsider is laid upon the table the chair laid before the house the communication he honorable the speaker house of representatives man i have the honor to transmit here with a text immolate copy of the letter received from mr daniel y executive director l annoyed state board of elections indicating that according to the end of his return will continue to read and the honorable bill foster was elected representative to congress for the fourteenth congressional district state of illinois was best wishes i am science unfairly raincy miller  but what purpose does the gentleman from illinois i rise madam speaker i ask unanimous consent that the gentleman from illinois the honorable bill foster be permitted to take the oath of office today to certificate of election has not arrived but there is no contest and no question has been raised with regard regard to selection without objection so ordered well the representative elect in the members of the illinois delegation present themselves in the well do you solemnly swear or affirm that you will support and defend the constitution of the united states against all enemies foreign and domestic that you will bear true faith and allegiance to the same that you take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion and that you will well and faithfully execute the duties of the office on which you are about to enter so help you god congratulations objection the gentleman from illinois mr costello is recognized for one minute madam speaker on behalf of the all and i delegate and i am pleased to introduce the newest member of our delegation in the house congressman bill foster from the fourteenth district a bell annoys bill resides engine a bail annoy and his has lived in the fox valley for almost twenty five years bill has a diverse background in both business and science he started a very successful theater lighting business with his younger brother when he was only nineteen years oh old and he went on to receive his ph d in physics from harvard bill worked at fermi lab for twenty two years where he designed research projects and built the latest round of the particle accelerators bill comes from a family with a strong history of working for the public good and we look forward to working thank you madam speaker it is an honor to stand here in the well of this body is a representative of the illinois fourteenth district my predecessor in this role is a friend to many here and love this house and represented the people of my district honorably for over twenty years i know that my colleagues will join me in once again thanking speaker dennis hastert for his service madam speaker fellow members of congress i am a scientist not a politician when it comes to the issues that we face in this nation i plan on approaching them as a scientist and that means examining the facts listening to both sides and doing what's right for the people of illinois and america during my campaign many people told me that congress should be acting differently at a time of crisis around the world in economic trouble at home americans want us to end the divisions between us and work together to solve the problems we face i believe leave that there are huge opportunities to change this country for the better if we can make the right decisions and real risks if we keep squabbling and making the wrong ones and now as you can probably already tell  scientists are known for our fiery rhetoric but as i stand before you today it is my solemn hope that with less bickering and word twisting in washington that there will be more problem solving we need to work together energy independence for tax cuts for middle class families to expand health care for more children for a return to fiscal discipline and as importantly as anything for a new direction in iraq to gether we can fulfill our pledge to the next generation to leave washington and this nation better on the day that we leave it then it was on the day that we came into it i look forward to meeting my new colleagues democrats and republicans and to getting right to work on behalf of the families we represent thank you to my colleagues in the illinois delegation and thank you madam speaker this is truly an honor i yield back the balance of my time  i want to take this opportunity to extend to our news colleague from illinois with whom i share two counties welcome to the big city look forward to working with you and and your under clause five d of rule twenty this year announces that to the house that in light of the administration of the oath to the gentleman from illinois the whole number of the house is now four hundred and thirty resolution is as follows or as in an interview published by the national journal magazine on march seventh two thousand and eight john brennan a former policy adviser to senator barack obama and former cia official who want to serve as head of the national  counterterrorism center stated that quote there is this great debate over whether or not the telecom companies should in fact be given immunity for their agreement to provide support and cooperate with the government after nine eleven i do believe strongly that they should be granted that immunity because they were told to do so by the appropriate authorities that were operating in a legal context and so i think that's important and i know people are concerned about that but i do believe that the right thing to do i do believe the senate version of the feis a bill addresses the issues appropriately unquote or as a bipartisan group of twenty five state attorneys general recently wrote a letter to the house of representative leaders in support of the senate bill's passage stating in part quote a bipartisan majority of the united states senate recently approved s twenty two forty eight but it until it is passed by the house of representatives the house will be in order gentleman from georgia but until it is passed by the house of representatives intelligence officials must obtain faisel warrants every time they attempt to monitor suspected terrorists  overseas countries passing asked twenty to forty eight would ensure our intelligence experts are once again able to conduct realtime surveillance with us twenty two forty eight still pending in the house of representatives our national security is in jeopardy unquote whereas retired admiral bobby inman former director of the national security agency and deputy director of the cia told the austin american statesman just last month that americans are more vulnerable without the protect america act and quote the only way for the country to prevent future terrorist attacks is to increase its ability to eavesdrop on their terrorist communication unquote whereas glenn so massy a harvard national security expert wrote in the february fifteenth edition of the tampa tribune that quote the global technologies of cell phones computers the internet and other such means of communication which were not and could not have been invasion by the drafters of in the one nine hundred seventy s have changed the way information moves around the world here in of the gaps meant to be filled by the protect america act of two thousand and seven unquote whereas in its bipartisan findings the senate select committee on intelligence concluded on october in october two thousand and seven that quote electronic communication service providers acted on a good faith belief that the president's program and their assistance was lawful unquote whereas twenty senate democrats supported the final passage of s twenty two forty eight including senate intelligence committee chairman jay rockefeller and senator kent conrad chairman of the senate budget committee whereas on february twelfth two thousand and eight after passage of s twenty two forty eight the senate amended the bill h r thirty seven seventy three gentleman will suspend the house is not an order gentleman from georgia thank you speaker whereas on feb twelfth two thousand and eight after passage of s twenty two forty eight the senate amended the bill h r thirty seven seventy three with the text of s twenty two forty eight and sent the amended bill back to the house of representatives for consideration or as senator kent conrad democrat of north dakota wrote in a february twenty eighth letter to the editor of the fargo forum quote the feis a lot needed reform to account for modern information technology current patterns of communication and the nature of the threats facing our country the bipartisan senate bill does include strong privacy safeguards and considerable judicial oversight to ensure that our fundamental freedoms are protected leaving telecommunications companies completely subject to civil litigation could cause problems in vital intelligence collection in the future whereas twenty one house of representatives democrats expressed support for the bipartisan  twentieth letter to speaker pelosi stating quote we have it within our ability to replace the expired protect america act by passing strong bipartisan faisel modernization legislation that can be signed into law and we should do so and the consequences of not passing such a measure could place our national security at undue risk unquote and whereas in an editorial published by the charleston post and courier on february twenty nin two thousand and eight hours of representatives democrat leadership was described as quote indeed causing a potentially dangerous gap in the nation's defenses and creating an unnecessary cloud of uncertainty in a critical area of intelligence operations where there should be great clarity and whereas the failure of the house of representatives to expeditiously consider the bipartisan senate passed foreign intelligence surveillance act of one nine hundred seventy eight amendments act of two thousand and eight has brought discredit to the house of representatives now therefore be it resolved that the house of representatives should immediately consider a motion to concur in the senate amendment to the bill h r thirty seven seventy three the gentleman may offer his resolution as speaker i rise to a question of privilege of the house and offer the resolution just noticed the clerk will report the resolution there is this great today to whether or not to the telecom companies should in fact be given immunity for their dream and provide support and cooperate with the governor after nine eleven i do believe strongly that they should be granted that immunity because they were told to do so by the appropriate authorities that were operating in a legal context and so i think that's important and i know people are concerned about that but i do believe that's the right thing to do i do passes stating in part a bipartisan majority of the united states senate recently approved senate twenty two forty eight but until it is also passed by the house of representatives intelligence officials must obtain five to warrant every time they attempt to monitor suspected terrorists an overseas country passing f twenty two forty eight would ensure our intelligence experts are once again able to conduct realtime surveillance within a twenty to forty eight clerk will continue to grant retired admiral bobby inman former director of the national security agency and deputy director of the cia told the alston american statesman last month that americans are more vulnerable without the protect america act and the only way for the country to prevent future terrorist attacks is to increase its ability to ease drop on their communications for as planned something i harbored national security expert wrote in the paper in fifteenth edition of the tampa tribune that the global technologies of cell phones computers the internet and other such means of communication which were not it could not have been an invasion by the drafters of five the clerk will continue whereas in its bipartisan findings the senate select committee on intelligence concluded in october two thousand and seven that electronic communication service providers acted on a good faith president's program and their assistance was lawful read twenty senate democrats supported final passage of the senate twenty two forty eight including senate intelligence chairman jay rockefeller and can't count read chairman of the senate budget committee whereas on february twelfth two thousand and eight after passage of senate twenty two forty eight the senate amended the bill h r thirty seven seventy three the detectives in a twenty to forty eight and sent the amended bill back to the house of representatives its consideration read senate where i senator kent conrad rose and i said we were a twenty eight letter to the editor of the fargo forum to fight a lot needed reform to account for modern information technology current patterns of communication and the nature of threats facing our country the bipartisan senate bill does include strong privacy safeguards and considerable considerable judicial oversight to ensure that our fundamental freedoms are protected leaving telecommunications companies completely subject to civil litigation could cause problems in vital intelligence collection in the future grant twenty one house of representatives democrats expressed support for the bipartisan senate five to bill  january twenty eighth letter to speaker pelosi said that we have it we have it within our ability to replace the expiring protect america act of passing strong bipartisan five to modernization legislation that can be signed into whereas in a editorial published by the charleston posting courier on feb twenty ninth two thousand a house of representatives democrat leadership was described as indeed causing a potentially dangerous gap in the nation's defenses and creating an unnecessary cloud of uncertainty and a critical area of intelligence operations where there should be great clarity and whereas in the failure of the house of representatives to expeditiously consider the bipartisan senate the clerk has completed her reading does the gentleman from georgia wish to be heard on whether or not the resolute constitutes was a question of the privileges of the house i do the gentleman is recognize we are now twenty five days into a unilateral disarmament a disarmament that doesn't make any sense to our constituents in each and every district across this nation the senate voted sixty eight to twenty nine sixty eight to twenty nine the issues that the gentleman needs to address themselves to is why this is a privilege of the house i suggested that the speaker make sure that he is talking to that point the gentleman from maryland is correct the gentleman from georgia may only address the rule nine issues and i thank the speaker and i would draw my colleagues attention to the context and they and the stated whereas that at least one occasion if not countless others across this nation in the charleston post and courier it was written that the house of representatives democrat leadership indeed causing a potentially dangerous gap in the nation's defense creating an unnecessary cloud of uncertainty in a critical area of intelligence operations where there should be great clarity there been multiple articles and multiple references this nation mr speaker as to why this house of representatives is bringing discredit to the house and also not fulfilling its responsibility in fact abrogating its responsibility and its duty and an a under the president's record in section seven zero two in the house rules and man will the resolution addresses a legislative sentiment and not a question of the privileges of the house  rise a sufficient number having arisen the recorded vote is ordered members will record their votes by electronic device this is a fifteen minute