[
Edit: The vote didn't seem to happen Thursday. That means it will most likely happen Friday. ]
Congress passed a PATRIOT Act reauthorization that included some compromises. It wasn't very good, but it was not as horrible as it could have been. This week, the compromises all went out the window. In a familiar pattern, the White House and Republicans substituted a new bill into the conference committee at the last moment, with no consultation with Democrats. The conference bill coming back to the House and Senate is not what they sent to the committee when they voted this fall.
It is expected to be voted on this week. Conference bills usually pass automatically, but there's a new factor at play... Congresscritters trying to distance themselves from Bush to avoid electoral fallout. We have a chance to stop it - please call your Senators and Representative TODAY
Here's
the ACLU action alert with more detail.
The Bill of Rights Defense Committee writes,
Extremists in Congress have hijacked the PATRIOT Act Reauthorization process. Behind closed doors, they crafted a draft PATRIOT Act Conference Report, shutting out other members of Congress. This is a serious breach of our open democracy, reminiscent of 2001, when the PATRIOT Act was written by the Department of Justice and shoved through Congress. We must make our voices heard in the halls of Congress and beyond!
Please demand that your Congressional representatives vote resoundingly NO on a Conference Report that expands the PATRIOT Act.
The current draft of the Conference Report, which is subject to change, constructs a facade of checks and balances, while stripping the courts of any significant oversight. Opportunities for the Department of Justice to monitor telephone and email activities of ordinary Americans, as well as to delve into financial, medical, library, school and other records without oversight are extended, and in some cases expanded. The Report also creates multiple new death penalties.
The ACLU writes, Not surprisingly, members of Congress are also turning the bill into a "Christmas tree," hung with a slew of horrible provisions that would otherwise have no chance of passing on their own. [...]
The proposed bill further attacks our civil liberties by:
- Not requiring a connection between any records sought and a suspected terrorist,
- Making the national security letter powers worse, and
- Failing to put a new short (four-year) sunset on the bill's the most controversial powers, among other flaws.
PFAW adds, "The version that the House and Senate will now vote on:
- Continues to allow the Justice Department to authorize the investigation of American citizens without judicial oversight, a power that the Washington Post reports is invoked more than 30,000 times each year.
- Excludes reforms on section 213 "sneak and peek" provision, allowing the government to search individuals' private property without notifying them.
- Permits authorities to search citizens' financial, medical, library, school and other records without judicial oversight.
Whoever your Senators and Representative are, whether you think they're a safe vote one way or the other, please
call today and ask them to vote NO on the PATRIOT Act.