House Prepares to Renew Patriot Act

[villager]

House Prepares to Renew Patriot Act

By JESSE J. HOLLAND, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The GOP-controlled House plans to quickly renew portions of the USA Patriot Act before they expire at the end of the year. Some Republicans say the nation's safety could be endangered if the Senate doesn't follow suit.

The House on Wednesday was expected to pass a White House-backed bill that would renew more than a dozen provisions of the Act — the government's premier anti-terrorism law — which are due to expire Dec. 31. But saving those provisions will be more difficult in the Republican-controlled Senate, where some GOP and Democratic senators are unsatisfied with the compromise bill, which was worked out last week between key Republicans in the House and Senate. At least one senator, Democrat Russ Feingold of Wisconsin, is threatening a filibuster.

House leaders and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales on Tuesday warned the bill's opponents that they could be putting the country in danger by holding up the Act's reauthorization. "The consequence of the Patriot Act expiring on December 31st is going to be putting the American people at greater risk,"
House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said.

Added Gonzales: "The tools in the reauthorization of the Patriot Act are very important to the success of the Department of Justice in protecting this country." For the White House and congressional Republicans, renewing the centerpiece of President Bush's war on terror is a top priority with the midterm elections coming up next year.

<snip>

The vast majority of the Patriot Act would remain in force even if the House-Senate agreement to renew the expiring provisions fails. The reauthorization language would extend for four years two of the Patriot Act's most controversial provisions — authorizing roving wiretaps and permitting secret warrants for books, records and other items from businesses, hospitals and organizations such as libraries. Those provisions would expire in four years unless Congress acted on them again.

<snip>

Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., supports efforts to delay the vote, including a filibuster threatened by Feingold, "so there will be more time to work on a good bipartisan bill," said his spokesman, Jim Manley.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051214/ap_on_go_co/patriot_act

[texpatriot2004]

1. Repeal the UnPatriot Act...it's 1984 for real. nm

[Oversea Visitor]

2. The Power Of Nightmare

War on Terror
Justification for less freedom, less liberty and less Democracy for the American people.
Fear fear, but but we doing it all for your benefit see you get better quality lifes :rofl:

Meanwhile Chimp blows up billions and thousands of lives to bring Liberty Freedom and Democracy to countries he think needs them ( Qualification: Must have oil )

911 gee very very expensive for the American people
Incompetent rulers at helm.

[Up2Late]

3. Here's the ACLU Press Release on this

(As this is a an ACLU Press Release, it should be posted in full)

ACLU Calls for Vote Against Cloture on Patriot Act ‘Compromise’ Agreement, Says Senators Must Stand For Innocent Americans and Bill of Rights (12/13/2005)

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: [e-mail]

WASHINGTON - The American Civil Liberties Union today called on Senators to reject a compromise agreement on legislation to reauthorize the Patriot Act and urged that body to vote against a motion for cloture. Concerns about the lack of substantive reforms to the anti-terrorism law have come from an unusual set of allies, including former Republican Congressman Bob Barr, the American Conservative Union, librarians and other moderate organizations.

"The Senate must stand true to its role as the ‘saucer that cools the tea,’ and reject pressures to hastily pass a faulty bill," said Caroline Fredrickson, Director of the ACLU Washington Legislative Office. "Thankfully, some lawmakers, Republicans and Democrats alike, recognize that the current bill is unacceptable and will vote against cloture. We hope others will join them; the American people, our freedoms and privacy, and our Constitution deserve nothing less."

The ACLU issued its call to Congress today as Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and John Sununu (R-NH) and members of Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances gathered to voice their objections to the conference report. Barr, chair of Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances and representatives from the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, the Gun Owners of America and the Free Congress Foundation joined the ACLU. Other organizations, including the American Librarian Association, have voiced their opposition to the conference report.

The ACLU noted that the conference report fails to require individualized suspicion before people's financial, medical or library records can be gathered by the FBI, as unanimously adopted by the Senate.

For example, Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the "business records" provision, expanded the FBI's ability to obtain a secret order for "any tangible thing," without showing any facts connecting the records to a suspected terrorist. Under this power, law enforcement could use that power to engage in fishing expeditions into the private information of innocent Americans. The Senate bill required a connection between the records sought and suspected terrorist or terrorist organization. However, the conference report did not include that modest fix; it also failed to take steps to correct the National Security Letter authority, which was vastly expanded by Section 505 of the act.

"Congress must not let a fake threat by proponents of Patriot Act to let it expire to cause them to support a defective bill," said Lisa Graves, ACLU Senior Counsel for Legislative Strategy. "Common sense corrections that would better focus limited resources and protect the privacy of innocent Americans already enjoy strong bipartisan support. Lawmakers should adopt them."

To read the ACLU’s letter to Congress on the conference report, go to:
<http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/22394leg20051207.html>

For more on the ACLU’s concerns with the Patriot Act, go to:
<http://www.reformthepatriotact.org>

<http://www.aclu.org/safefree/general/22814prs20051213.html>

[petgoat]

4. Sign this petition. Ask your Senators to support Feingold's

filibuster of the Patriot Act.

http://political.moveon.org/patriotact/?id=6528-4364099-4TZ6AO9zjMHJ52UA7prCOA&t=3

This is important. Ask your friends, too!

[dutchdemocrat]

5. Had too...