Overreacting to an Overexaggerated Threat of Terrorism

Washington, DC -- Madam Speaker, we all want to do what we should to fight terrorism, but the Federal Government has to do many other things, too.

A Wall Street Journal editorial said: ``We would like to suggest a new post-September 11 rule for Congress. Any bill with the words ``security'' in it should get double the public scrutiny and maybe four times the normal wait, lest all kinds of bad legislation become law under the phony guise of fighting terrorism.''

More significantly, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff testified in front of a congressional committee: ``We should not let an overexaggerated threat of terrorism drive us crazy, into bankruptcy, trying to defend against every conceivable threat.'' He went on to say: ``We do have limits, and we do have choices to make. We don't want to break the very systems we're trying to protect. We don't want to destroy our way of life trying to save it. We don't want to undercut our economy trying to protect our economy, and we don't want to destroy our civil liberties and our freedoms in order to make ourselves safer.''