Patriot Act Legislation Headed for Reauthorization

On Thursday, February 16, the U.S. Congress took a major step toward the final passage of a revised USA Patriot Act. By a vote of 96 - 3 the Senate agreed to limit debate on the measure, which now is almost certain to be approved by the House and Senate and signed into law. However, before a final vote, Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI) has said that he will "offer several amendments to strengthen the legislation's curbs on government power," as reported by the Associated Press.

With Congress set to recess the week of February 20, it now appears that a vote on the Patriot Act reauthorization conference report will not take place until the week of February 27. The current version of the Patriot Act is scheduled to expire on March 10.

On Thursday, February 9, a bipartisan group of senators, led by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, announced that an agreement on modifications to the USA Patriot Act's expiring provisions had been reached. The group included five senators who had previously opposed reauthorization of the legislation in order to allow time for Congress to fashion a compromise that would strengthen protections of reader privacy. (For a previous story on this topic, click here.)

On Tuesday, February 14, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) brought the Patriot Act compromise legislation to the floor, a move that spurred some objections from Democrats, as reported by Congress Daily. The Daily noted that Feingold, who led the charge in late December to block the Patriot Act, vowed to "use every procedural hurdle in his arsenal to defeat the bill." Frist then filed a motion to invoke cloture and limit debate on the report, according to the Daily.

In his statement on the Senate floor on Thursday morning, Feingold urged his Senate colleagues to oppose reauthorization until it protects the rights and freedoms of "law-abiding Americans with no connection to terrorism." He noted, "The government should not have the kind of broad, intrusive powers in Section 215."

ABA COO Oren Teicher commented to BTW that "we were disappointed that some of the provisions of the Senate's original version of the revised Patriot Act -- which included stronger protections of readers' rights -- were not incorporated into the final reauthorization bill. However, this version does make important, and significant, changes to the Patriot Act. Booksellers and their allies should know that they successfully changed the tone and tenor of this important national debate." -- David Grogan