[ACLU-NM] House Rules Committee Shuts Out Needed Patriot Act Reforms

[Kimberly Lavender]

House Rules Committee Shuts Out Needed Patriot Act Reforms, Yet Adds
"Smokeless Tobacco" Amendment 
	
		
	
  WASHINGTON - Following a late night meeting of the House Rules
Committee yesterday on legislation to reauthorize the Patriot Act, the
American Civil Liberties Union today expressed its disappointment that
the final floor debate will exclude several much-needed amendments to
bring the controversial 2001 law in line with the Constitution by
restoring proper checks and balances on government power. The committee
rejected more than half of the amendments offered for consideration. 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Media at dcaclu.org

WASHINGTON - Following a late night meeting of the House Rules Committee
yesterday on legislation to reauthorize the Patriot Act, the American
Civil Liberties Union today expressed its disappointment that the final
floor debate will exclude several much-needed amendments to bring the
controversial 2001 law in line with the Constitution by restoring proper
checks and balances on government power. The committee rejected more
than half of the amendments offered for consideration. 

The committee rejected allowing a fair, up-or-down vote on a series of
amendments that would correct these flaws based on no apparent principle
other than the fact that these amendments likely have majority support
on the House floor, and they reflect some of the principal objections
that civil libertarians have made to the Patriot Act. 

Many of the amendments that were rejected offered common sense fixes to
the Patriot Act, and would have put better checks against abuse into
place. For example, the committee rejected a measure that won a
substantial majority vote in a funding vote earlier this year, the
Sanders amendment, that would have exempted library and bookstore
records from Section 215. That provision allows the government to obtain
Americans' personal records without showing any facts connecting the
records sought to a foreign agent. However, the Rules Committee did
allow an amendment, offered by Rep. Howard Coble (R-NC), that would
amend the Contraband Cigarette Trafficking Act to, among other things,
extend its reach to cover "smokeless tobacco." The ACLU takes no
position on the need to combat trafficking in chewing tobacco but
expressed its disappointment that the committee rejected other
amendments that were clearly germane to the excesses of the Patriot Act.


The following can be attributed to Lisa Graves, ACLU Senior Counsel for
Legislative Strategy:

"Sadly, the House leadership has continuously blocked efforts to allow
fair-minded lawmakers to make meaningful changes to the Patriot Act.
When the House Judiciary Committee considered this issue, partisan
politics trumped a commitment to freedom. Yesterday, the Rules Committee
showed deference not to the Constitution, but again to party politics.
When it comes to protecting the Bill of Rights and our freedoms,
lawmakers must engage in a full and open debate, and the leadership has
effectively prevented that.

"There have been repeated bipartisan calls for the Patriot Act to be
fixed so that our freedoms are not unnecessarily compromised.
Nationwide, nearly 400 communities - including seven states - have
passed resolutions calling on Congress to bring proper balance to
security and liberty. Congress must show its true patriotism by acting
to protect the Constitution and the Bill of Rights."To read the ACLU's
letter to the House on the Patriot Act reauthorization legislation, go
to:
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=18798c=206For more on
the ACLU's concerns with the Patriot Act, go to:
http://www.reformthepatriotact.org