Patriot Act - thou shalt not debate

In what has to be one of the all-time biggest cases of situational irony, Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) House Republican and chair of the panel reviewing the Patriot Act, abruptly shut down debate on the act while the Democrats were speaking critically of it. Sensenbrenner, who authored portions of the act, felt that Dems and their witnesses had had enough time to present criticism of the controversial piece of legislation. Do you understand? The most important piece of legislation dealing with civil and human rights can't even sustain its own critical inquiry. Opposition was NOT allowed to finish speaking. Dems were left shouting into microphones that had been turned off. This sort of thing just blows my mind. I'd love to be wrong about this. Are there details I'm missing, or is this the biggest mockery of the democratic process we've seen since the President's "Town Hall" meetings?