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Patriot Act Surfs Through House
John Stith
Staff Writer
2005-07-22
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The USA Patriot Act made a successful run through the U.S. House of Representatives in a concerted government effort to make the anti-terrorism law, passed in the wake of 9/11, a permanent fixture in federal statutes.
Nearly all of the key provisions of the sweeping law were passed as hours after London experienced its second set of bombings in two weeks, striking at London's mass transit system.
The vote passed mostly in partisan lines, 257 to 171. Many Democrats felt slighted because the Republican controlled house limited debate to less than half the amendments proposed.
The original version of the Patriot Act included 16 provisions due to expire at the end of 2005. The Bush administration continues to want the passage of all the provisions. The House got 14 through and the Senate still needs to debate the bill. Stiffer debate is expected in the Senate which has much more limited rules on debate and more Democrats.
The House did vote to limit two the more controversial provisions to years. Those provisions cover the permission for roving phone wiretaps to apply to any telephone a suspect uses, not just the one phone number. This works whether you call from your home, your cell, or the pay phone at the gas station. The other allows the government to go to a secret court to get permission to rummage though personal records including medical, financial and library records.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Ca, told the Washington Post, "We have a duty to protect the American people from terrorism, but also to protect law-abiding American citizens from unaccountable and unchallengeable government power over their personal lives, their personal records and their thoughts."
One common sense measure the House passed calls for greater information-sharing between grand juries, federal prosecutors and intelligence agencies. The House version of the bill made it through the House Judiciary Committee.
The Senate version seems to be something else entirely though. The Senate Judiciary Committee version, sponsored by Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R - Pa, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Ca, looks dramatically different than the House version isn't at all what the administration wanted.
Their version would extend the roving wiretaps and the records checks but would force renewal in 4 years as opposed to 10. It includes stringent requirements for seizing those records. It allows people to challenge those warrants approved by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court and require subjects of searches to be notified within seven days unless an extension is approved by the court.
The Senate Intelligence Committee had something different than both of those. Back in June, they came out with a version called to make all provisions permanent and give the FBI further powers to issue subpoenas without judicial approval.
"In retaining the expanded powers of the Patriot Act, this bill also maintains and improves the constitutional safeguards that are indispensable to our democracy," said Edward M. Kennedy (D-Mass.), a committee member in that same Washington Post story.
"Throughout this single day of debate allowed on the far-reaching powers of the Patriot Act, there were repeated bipartisan calls for meaningful changes to improve this law and protect both our security and our liberty. Had the people's House allowed key reforms to receive an up or down vote, the serious flaws in the original Patriot Act could have been repaired. Given the opportunity to vote their conscience on amendments to protect our civil liberties and prevent making these intrusive powers permanent, fair-minded lawmakers would have spoken for freedom," said Lisa Graves, ACLU Senior Counsel for Legislative Strategy said in a statement."
About the Author:
John is a staff writer for SecurityProNews covering cyber security.
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