The Little Brown Reader

Congress Takes Aim at the USA-PATRIOT Act

In a huge victory, the House voted on Tuesday evening -- by an extraordinary margin -- for an amendment to this year's Commerce, Justice and State funding bill that would bar federal law enforcement agencies from implementing "sneak and peek" search warrants. In one of its most controversial provisions, the USA PATRIOT Act allowed government agents to execute so-called sneak and peek warrants and search homes, confiscate certain types of property and essentially "bug" computers without notifying the subject of the search that it is happening.

Conservative Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter (R-ID) offered the amendment, which passed by a vote of 309 to 118, with 113 Republicans voting in favor. The amendment still has to clear the Senate and the President before it becomes law.

The Otter Amendment is the first unequivocal indication that lawmakers are taking seriously a broad, grassroots backlash against excessive government powers, which has grown exponentially in the past several months. To date, at least 142 communities and three states, encompassing more than 16 million people, have passed pro-civil liberties resolutions that speak out against the PATRIOT Act, many of which call for specific fixes to the bill.

"Although we applaud Rep. Otter and his fellow patriots, there is now more to be done," said Timothy Edgar, an ACLU Legislative Counsel. "The PATRIOT Act is replete with similar unnecessary and un-American surveillance, detention and investigative powers that must be repealed before we can really begin to restore civil liberties protections to where they need to be in America."

Learn more on the ACLU's campaign to keep America Safe and Free.

TAKE ACTION!

Click here to send a FREE "Thank or Spank" fax to your Representative!

Much more needs to be done to alleviate the worst provisions of the PATRIOT Act and we need to let our Members of Congress know that we are watching!