Senate Vote on Patriot Act Report Expected Tomorrow

December 15, 2005

Campaign for Reader Privacy Calls Supporters to Action

The U.S. House of Representatives approved the USA Patriot Act conference committee report on Wednesday by a vote of 251 to 174 . However, the fate of the measure remains uncertain because a bipartisan group of senators -- including Russell Feingold (D-WI) and John Sununu (R-NH) -- has promised to block a final vote on the measure with a filibuster. The Senate leadership, which supports the conference report, will attempt to prevent a filibuster by passing a cloture motion tomorrow morning. If the cloture motion does not receive the votes of 60 senators, advocates of the conference report will have to agree to a temporary extension of the provisions of the Patriot Act or allow Section 215 and other provisions to expire on December 31. Congress is scheduled to adjourn next week.

According to published reports, Sen. Bill Frist (R-TN), the majority leader, is currently considering options if the cloture motion fails. The Associated Press reported on Wednesday that Frist "was preparing to bring up his own legislation to extend the current Patriot Act for a year, according to a senior Frist aide who spoke on condition of anonymity." According to the Washington Post, the vote for cloture is too close to predict an outcome. Opponents of the conference report are supporting a three-month extension.

The American Booksellers Association and its partners in the Campaign for Reader Privacy (CRP) -- the American Library Association, the Association of American Publishers and PEN American Center -- are asking supporters to contact their senators today to urge them to support Feingold's and Sununu's efforts to ensure the appropriate changes are made to the USA Patriot Act. (For contact information for your elected representatives, go to the Senate website.)

"We understand that this is the busiest time of the year for our members," said ABA COO Oren Teicher. "But we cannot express strongly enough how important we believe it is that each of our members take just a moment to contact their senators to ask them to support Feingold's and Sununu's efforts. If there was ever a time to get involved, this is it."

While the conference report does contain a number of hard-fought compromises (such as four-year sunsets for Sections 215 and 206 and the "lone wolf" provision), it does not limit bookstore and library searches to the records of people who are suspected of terrorism. As a result, the FBI would continue to have the power to search the records of anyone, even individuals not suspected of a crime, if it asserts the records are "relevant" to a terrorism investigation.

"If we enact the bill as written, a little bit of the liberty tree will have died," Rep. James McGovern (D-MA) told AP.

As it currently stands, the conference report does not include the Senate provision limiting searches to the records of suspected terrorists. The conference bill outlines a new procedure that would allow recipients of Section 215 orders to challenge them in the secret FISA court, but the rules for filing an appeal have been left to the FISA court to determine.

CRP is urging its supporters to call the Washington offices of both their senators today. In particular, CRP is particularly anxious to generate calls to the following senators who have not indicated how they will vote:

• Alaska: Ted Stevens (R) (202) 224-3004
• Arkansas: Blanche Lincoln (D) (202) 224-4843 and Mark Pryor (D) (202) 224-2353
• Connecticut: Joseph Lieberman (D) (202) 224-4041
• Delaware: Thomas Carper (D) (202) 224-2441
• Florida: Bill Nelson (D) (202) 224-5274
• Idaho: Mike Crapo (R) (202) 224-6142
• Indiana: Evan Bayh (D) (202) 224-5623 and Richard Lugar (R) (202) 224-4814
• Kansas: Sam Brownback (R) (202) 224-6521
• Louisiana: Mary Landrieu (D) (202) 224-5824
• Maine: Susan Collins (R) (202) 224-2523 and Olympia Snowe (R) (202) 224-5344
• Montana: Conrad Burns (R) (202) 224-2644 and Max Baucus (D) (202) 224-2651
• Nebraska: Ben Nelson (D) (202) 224-6551
• New York: Charles Schumer (D) (202) 224-6542 and Hillary Clinton (D) (202) 224-4451
• North Dakota: Kent Conrad (D) (202) 224-2043 and Byron Dorgan (D) (202) 224-2551
• Ohio: Michael DeWine (R) (202) 224-2315 and George Voinovich (R) (202) 224-3353
• Oklahoma: Tom Coburn (R) (202) 224-5754
• Oregon: Gordon Smith (R) (202) 224-3753
• Rhode Island: Lincoln Chafee (R) (202) 224-2921
• South Dakota: Tim Johnson (D) (202) 224-5842
• Virginia: George Allen (R) (202) 224-4024
• West Virginia: Robert Byrd (D) (202) 224-3954

Finally, CRP is asking participants to make calls to the leaders of the Senate fight against the conference report to indicate strong support for their position and to express thanks for their leadership in the fight to restore reader privacy:

• Alaska: Lisa Murkowski (R) (202) 224-6665
• California: Dianne Feinstein (D) (202) 224-3841
• Colorado: Ken Salazar (D) (202) 224-5852
• Florida: Mel Martinez (R) (202) 224-3041
• Idaho: Larry Craig (R) (202) 224-2752
• Illinois: Dick Durbin (D) (202) 224-2152 and Barack Obama (D) (202) 224-2854
• Massachusetts: Edward Kennedy (D) (202) 224-4543 and John F. Kerry (D) (202) 224-2742
• Michigan: Carl Levin (D) (202) 224-6221
• Nebraska: Chuck Hagel (R) (202) 224-4224
• Nevada: Harry Reid (D) (202) 224-3542
• New Hampshire: John Sununu (R) (202) 224-2841
• Vermont: Patrick Leahy (D) (202) 224-4242
• West Virginia: Jay Rockefeller (D) (202) 224-6472
• Wisconsin: Russ Feingold (D) (202) 224-5323

For contact information for your elected representatives, go to the Senate website. http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Topics: News - Bookselling, Free Expression,