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Thursday, March 2, 2006
We're obviously disappointed with today's vote to reauthorize the Patriot Act without common sense reforms to ensure that anti-terrorism resources are focused on agents of al Qaeda, and not used to invade the private financial, medical, library and internet records of ordinary Americans.
We applaud the valiant efforts of Senators Feingold and others to include truly effective civil liberties safeguards. Notably, Senators Feingold, Tom Harkin (D-IA), Jim Jeffords (I-VT), and the dean of the Senate, Robert Byrd (D-WV), voted against final passage.
And in recent days, Senator Durbin (D-IL), Judiciary Committee Chairman Specter (R-PA), and Congresswoman Jane Harman and others, have reiterated the need to reform the law to better protect civil liberties, regardless of the vote's outcome.
One thread of the debate remains unresolved, as the adjustments in the Sununu amendment, including a small change to National Security Letter rules, may or may not reach a House vote before the bill reaches the president's desk.
We will continue to press for needed reforms to protect American freedoms. But we're sadly aware that in some ways the debate over reform may itself be completely moot. Until the Bush administration stops the illegal NSA program to spy on Americans, and stops ignoring the rule of law, any reforms to the Patriot Act may simply go unheeded under the extreme view of unlimited power embraced by this president.
Congress must restore the rule of law and insist that Americans' rights be protected. Our great nation can, and must, be both safe and free.
Together with our allies on the right and the left, we have made tremendous progress over the past four years. The Bush administration had sought a repeat of 2001, when the Patriot Act was passed quickly with little debate and only a few courageous dissenters. But the national debate over the secret search powers expanded by the Patriot Act has come a long way.
Our efforts achieved a legislative impact that many, if not most, people thought was impossible. A bipartisan group of 52 Senators was willing to stand up to the administration and filibuster the bill last year. And we saw an exponential increase in the number of members of Congress willing to stand against the bill until it is reformed to fully protect fundamental American values.
More than ever before, we need the support of conscientious Americans to help us continue to fight. We need a special prosecutor to investigate the NSA spying. We need to hold Congress's feet to the fire on hearings. And, once we've done that, we need to truly reform the Patriot Act, so that our civil liberties are protected and the law's provisions lie within the bounds of the Constitution.
Friday, February 24, 2006
As the uproar grows over illegal spying, and now over port security, the fractious Patriot Act debate still hangs over Congress.
Congress is now on the brink of voting to reauthorize and expand the Patriot Act, which would make secret searches of Americans' financial and internet records more coercive and more punitive.
Last week, after months of debate, some key legislators cut a deal with the White House to reauthorize the Patriot Act without making the most important changes needed to protect our civil liberties.
The White House refused to negotiate in good faith on the most important civil liberties and privacy protections, namely requiring that any records sought be about a suspected foreign terrorist or an American conspiring with terrorists. The reauthorization bill fails to include these and other critical protections.
Senators Feingold, Bingaman and Leahy are attempting to add amendments that would help fix key problems with the Patriot Act. The Patriot Act must not be reauthorized unless these important changes are made to protect our freedoms.
As the Patriot Act barrels toward final voting, the fight to attach genuine reforms is also in its endgame, with a flurry of amendments and related debates still possible next week.
Senator Feingold again deserves kudos for taking a stand for added privacy protections. Unlike his principled solo stance in 2001, this time he has found himself joined by the odd pairing of Senator Robert Byrd from West Virginia, and independent Senator Jim Jeffords from Vermont.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch (literally), the Montana State Library caved to local pressure from a handful of people and canceled a screening of the ACLU’s new national television series, The ACLU Freedom Files (check your local cable listings). The screening event was picked up almost immediately by the Lewis and Clark Library, nearby in Helena.
“Librarians understand that every book tells a story,” said Scott Crichton, ACLU of Montana Executive Director. “They defend and discuss books that some would ban. Likewise, every film also tells a story. ‘Beyond the Patriot Act’ shows how this sweeping and misguided law affects ordinary Americans. The federal government has had four years to make its case. Now it’s time for the people to hear the other side of the debate.”
On the NSA front, the White House continues to face pressure from Congress over legislation governing the surveillance. Though the Bush Administration has continually argued that new legislation is unnecessary—because the president, they claim, already had legal authority to conduct the surveillance—it looks like that bullheadedness may be cracking under the strain.
Also check out The Nation piece about the similarities between the illegal NSA surveillance and the ongoing torture scandal, notably the revelations recently that the Navy’s general counsel fought a determined internal battle to stop the abuse.
Monday, February 13, 2006
Key lawmakers apparently reached a deal to reauthorize the Patriot Act late
last week. But the measure fails to reform the law properly to better protect security and civil liberties.
The deal would be doubly unfortunate, with several key Republicans in Congress continuing to field probing questions for the White House on the NSA illegal spying scandal.
The Senate Intelligence Committee, chaired by Bush stalwart Sen. Pat Roberts from Kansas, is apparently likely to vote to open its own investigation into the NSA domestic surveillance, led by Republicans Chuck Hagel, Olympia Snowe and Mike DeWine.
Heather Wilson, the New Mexico Republican and the only female veteran in the House, has also come out with serious questions about the legality of the surveillance. She's calling for a full congressional inquiry. "The men who wrote the Constitution feared most a strong Executive with control of a standing army," Wilson told Time Magazine. "Our Constitution is set up to protect all of us from tyranny."
Friday, February 10, 2006
On Thursday, Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Ted Kennedy (D-WI) sent a forceful signal to telecommunications companies, amid growing furor over their assistance of the NSA in its efforts to spy on communications.
In their letter to the chief executives of AT&T, Sprint and Nextel (PDF), the Senators seek to determine who, if anyone, in the government requested the companies’ assistance and what the substance of those discussions were. They have asked for answers to their questions by February 17.
It is important that the Senators get answers. Especially when the telecommunications companies appear to have facilitated the government’s efforts. It will be interesting -- and hopefully still possibe -- to discern where government ends and these businesses begin when government is forcing these companies to perform a quasi-governmental role.
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