The Congressional session resumed yesterday, and the most important issue on tap is the reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act.
Specifically, the version that will be voted on this week in both house and the senate is the conference report 109-333 which can be found here. It is associated with resolution H.R. 3199 in the house and S. 1389 in the Senate.
You can read a detailed analysis by the ACLU of this conference report here, and a summary here. ACLU opposes the bill.
The important thing to remember is that, in all the versions that have been under consideration, namely the house/senate/conference versions, most of the provisions of the PATRIOT act will become permanent.
What I think we should try to manage is this:
Barring the Iraq war, there is nothing that is of greater significance at this moment than to make sure that our civil rights are not compromised. I implore you to act upon it.
X-posted at MLW, myDD, booTrib, pCortex, and dKos.
Here is a feasible congressional course of action. Please call your members of congress and ask them for the following:
- Ask your Representative to vote NO on the proposed measure (the Conference Report 109-333) in the house of representatives.
- Ask both of your senators to support a possible filibuster, and if that fails, to vote NO in the up or down vote on the resolution in the senate.
- Ask all three of them to pass an immediate resolution to extend the current law by 2 or 3 months as most of its provisions expire on 12/31. That would allow time for detailed discussion and debate on reauthorization in order to hammer out a more reasonable version.
- Tell them that you demand open floor debates on this vital piece of legislation that stands to compromise your civil and individual rights (in the name of security), and therefore you demand to know exactly what is being legislated on your behalf.
- Tell them that the entire law should have a sunset of two years as that would allow for periodic reevaluation of the act, for its effectiveness and necessity.
Links for Contacting Members of Congress: The links below provide comprehensive information on Members of Congress (website, phone, fax, address, and web-forms and/or email) based on your zip code:
- congress.org directory listing
Senate’s own member listing
visi.com search tool
ACLU’s search page
Congressional leadership listing
In case you haven’t done this before, here is a step-by-step guide:
- Set aside a notebook/notepad for this and future legislative activism purposes, if possible.
- Explore the links above and note down or bookmark the numbers, email addresses, webform URLs etc.
- You may also to visit this dKosopedia Election 2006 page later to assess the political dynamics involved.
- Call the offices of each of your members of congress (house representative first, as that vote will likely come first).
- Note down the name of the staff member you speak to.
- convey your thoughts, and jot down their feedback.
- Place followup calls if necessary.
- Send emails/webmails, faxes, as necessary.
- Sign the petition by People for the American Way (PFAW) emergency petition: link. Please see ACLU’s letter to Congress for additional their talking points.
I strongly urge you to follow this matter closely and to post diaries here as well as at the Patriot Act Action Center (category) at My Left Wing.
If you choose not to recommend this diary, I encourage to write one of your own, and you are most welcome to reproduce and use any part of this diary.
Thank you.
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To follow is ACLU’s summary of findings on conference report 109-333 (full memo here):
Summary of Conference Report on Patriot Act Reauthorization
* The conference report (“conference report”) makes virtually all of the expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act (Patriot Act) permanent without including necessary changes to restore checks and balances.
* Personal records from libraries, bookstores, doctor’s offices, business, and other entities that are not connected to an international terrorist or spy could still be obtained using either a secret order under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) or a “national security letter” (NSL) that can be issued by an FBI official without any court oversight.
* Both secret FISA orders and NSLs would continue to contain a potentially permanent gag provision that bars a recipient from telling anyone (other than the recipient’s lawyer) that records have been obtained. The court must accept as “conclusive” the government’s assertion that disclosure of an NSL would harm national security.
* The bill allows sneak-and-peek searches under a broad standard not limited to terrorism cases. New 30 and 90 day time limits could be waived or renewed indefinitely, allowing such searches to continue to remain secret for weeks, months or even years.
* The bill still allows secret eavesdropping and secret search orders that do not name a target or a location, with only after-the-fact oversight by a court as to why the government believed a unknown target was in that location.
* Reforms the Patriot Act’s definition of “domestic terrorism” to provide that assets may not be forfeited except where the organization or individual is involved in a serious federal crime – a welcome change.
* Omits modest limits on a host of additional Patriot Act surveillance powers, all of which are made permanent.
* Although the final reauthorization bill includes the most extreme death penalty provisions sought by some, it would create a number of new crimes, including new death penalties, without adequate consideration by Congress.
* The bill allows the Justice Department, not federal courts, to determine that a state has a competent death penalty system, qualifying it for a relaxed set of procedural rules for federal habeas proceedings.
* Provides a new, four year sunset on only three provisions out of scores of new surveillance powers obtained by the government in the Patriot Act.
