Surprise, surprise, surprise! House republics are trying to tack provisions from the odious Patriot Act II onto their final version of "9/11 Commission Bill". Is this yet another campaign issue for them? To get dems to vote against it based on those provisions? Could be, but I'm guessing it's a non-starter in the Senate.
From the AP:
"House leaders want to increase federal investigators' anti-terrorism powers similar to a Patriot Act II draft proposal from last year, as senators make final changes in their legislation addressing the Sept. 11 commission's recommendations.
In a draft of the House GOP legislation obtained by The Associated Press, many of the provisions were similar to the draft copy of the "Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003" that a nonprofit group said had leaked out of the Justice Department in January 2003.
Justice Department officials said at that time that they had made no final decision on the legislation, and never submitted it to Congress.
But many of the anti-terrorism provisions of that draft show up in the House discussion draft section on terrorism prevention and prosecution that is part of the proposed House legislation."
..
"Nowhere in its recommendations does the 9/11 Commission ask Congress to pass a sequel to the Patriot Act," said Laura W. Murphy, director of the ACLU Washington legislative office.
Senate Democratic leader Tom Daschle of South Dakota said that adding "extremely divisive and counterproductive language" would make it harder to get a final bill through Congress. "Whether or not we ought to expand the Patriot Act is certainly a matter for debate," he said Thursday."