SCN: [Fwd: FC: House plans vote on anti-terrorism surveillance bill Wednesday]
sharma at blarg.net
sharma at blarg.net
Wed Oct 24 13:47:18 PDT 2001
This is what terrorism and our response to it is bringing us.
Once these laws are in place, local authorities will find other
uses for them than just going after terrorists. Today, right now,
if you are uncomfortable with these greatly expanded secret
police powers, you need to call your legislators and say so. Or
at least email them. Don't bother to send them regular mail as
they won't get it for days or weeks.
-sharma
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: FC: House plans vote on anti-terrorism surveillance bill
Wednesday
Date: Tue, 23 Oct 2001 21:33:20 -0700
From: Declan McCullagh <declan at well.com>
Reply-To: declan at well.com
To: politech at politechbot.com
Summary: Expect a vote on Wednesday, with debate beginning soon
after 10 am
ET. The discussion on the House floor began Tuesday evening. The
House is
voting on a version of the USA Act approved by a House-Senate
conference
committee. The ACLU sent out a letter (below) Tuesday evening
urging the
House to reject the conference report. Don't hold your breath.
One version of USA Act (sometimes called PATRIOT Act), not the
latest:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:H.R.2975:
Background:
http://www.wartimeliberty.com/search.pl?topic=legislation
-Declan
***********
Press release:
WASHINGTON, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James
Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-Wis.) delivered the following statement
during
tonight's House debate on anti-terrorism legislation, H.R. 3162:
"Mr. Speaker, today, we have the duty and the privilege to pass
this
historic legislation, the USA - PATRIOT Act of 2001, which was
born of
adversity and violent attack. This landmark legislation will
provide law
enforcement and intelligence agencies additional tools that are
needed to
address the threat of terrorism and to find and prosecute
terrorist criminals.
"This legislation authorizes the sharing of information between
criminal
investigators and those engaged in foreign intelligence
gathering. It
provides for enhanced wiretap and surveillance authority, and
brings the
basic building blocks of a criminal investigation (pen registers
and trap
and trace provisions) into the twenty-first century to deal with
e-mails
and Internet communications.
"Mr. Speaker, this legislation is the result of bipartisan
consultation and
review. A version of this legislation was passed by the House
Judiciary
Committee, 36-0. The House then passed H.R. 2975 by a vote of
337-79. The
House and Senate Judiciary Committees and the bipartisan
leadership began a
process last week to reconcile the differences between the House
and Senate
bills. This bill is the result of that process that was
completed despite
the closure of House and Senate offices due to the anthrax attack
on the
Capitol.
"The changes to the bill are few but significant. First, the
sunset
provision in the House bill was modified to sunset in four years.
Provisions of the original version expired after five years and
the Senate
did not have a sunset provision. Also, the Senate bill contained
revisions
to the so-called McDade law. This compromise version does not
contain
those changes and I agreed to review this subject in a different
context.
"This bill also contains comprehensive money laundering
provisions that
will be discussed by my colleagues from the Committee on
Financial
Services. The House bill did not contain such provisions
although the
House subsequently passed a separate bill.
"Regarding the information sharing provisions, the Senate bill
permitted
law enforcement to share grand jury material with intelligence
agencies
without notice to the Court. The House bill permitted such
sharing only
after prior authorization to the Court. This bill allows sharing
of grand
jury material but the Department of Justice must give notice to
the Court
after the disclosure.
"This legislation also contains a provision, found in neither the
House or
Senate version, that directs the Department of Justice to file an
ex parte
and in camera notice with the Court when the government installs
on an
Internet Service Provider a device pursuant to a lawful pen
register or
trap and trace order. This provision's author is the esteemed
Majority
Leader, the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Armey.
"This legislation also contains a number of provisions, including
3
authored by Rep. Hyde and 1 by Rep. Keller, which were in the
House
Judiciary Committee version of the bill but were not in the
version that
passed on the floor. This bill also contains a number of
provisions that
have been worked out on both sides of the aisle in the Senate.
"Regarding the bill's immigration provisions, this compromise
legislation
allows the Attorney General to delegate only to the Deputy
Attorney General
the ability to certify an alien as a terrorist. The House
Judiciary
Committee version of this legislation contained this provision
but the
Senate-passed bill did not and allowed such delegation to the
Commissioner
of the Immigration and Naturalization Service. In addition, the
compromise
requires the Attorney General to revisit every six months the
detention of
an alien who has been certified as an alien terrorist. The
compromise also
adds a provision authorizing the appropriation of over $36
million to
implement as quickly as possible the Foreign Student Tracking
System that
was created in 1996. Finally, this legislation contains
important
humanitarian relief, originally contained in the House bill but
not the
Senate, for the families of immigrants killed in the terrorist
attacks of
September 11.
"Mr. Speaker, this legislation is not perfect and the process is
not one
that all will embrace. However, these are difficult times that
require
steadfast leadership and an expeditious response. This
legislation is
desperately needed and the President has called on Congress to
pass it
now. I urge all Members to support this important anti-terrorism
legislation and reserve the balance of my time."
##30##
***********
From one person following the money laundering sections of the
USA Act:
>The House is going to vote tonight on the anti-terrorism substitute which
>will include the anti-money laundering language (a concession to the
>Senate). According to one source, the base text of the anti-money
>laundering part will be the House floor passed version of HR 3004 (which had
>been changed to conform more with the Senate version) with some
>changes. These sections will be dropped from the bill:
>*Making it a crime to make a false statement opening an account;
>*Sec 403 and 404 are out, allowing the Mint to print foreign money to
>foil counterfetiers; These sections will be added:
>*Senate language facilitating information sharing between agencies
>*Gramm language allowing a process for challenging asset forfeiture And
>another addition that fudges some of the language:
>*Treasury will have 180 days to issue monitoring regulations or the
>more proscriptive Senate mandates take effect.
***********
CURRENT HOUSE FLOOR PROCEEDINGS
LEGISLATIVE DAY OF OCTOBER 23, 2001
107TH CONGRESS - FIRST SESSION
9:58 P.M. -
On motion to adjourn
Agreed to by voice vote.
The House adjourned. The next meeting is scheduled for
10:00 a.m. on October 24, 2001.
Mr. Larson (CT) moved that the House do now adjourn.
8:30 P.M. -
SPECIAL ORDER SPEECHES - The House has concluded all
anticipated legislative business and has proceeded to
Special Order speeches.
8:27 P.M. -
Pursuant to clause 8, rule XX, the Speaker postponed until
Wednesday, October 24, 2001, the roll call vote on the
motion to suspend the rules and pass
H.R. 3162, which was ordered on Tuesday, October 23, 2001.
H.R. 3162:
to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and
around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory
tools, and for other purposes
At the conclusion of debate, the Yeas and Nays were
demanded and ordered. Pursuant to the provisions of clause
8, rule XX, the Chair announced that further proceedings
on the motion would be postponed.
7:15 P.M. -
DEBATE - By unanimous consent, the House proceeded with one
hour of debate on the motion to suspend the rules and pass
H.R. 3162.
Considered under suspension of the rules.
Mr. Sensenbrenner moved to suspend the rules and pass the
bill.
7:14 P.M. -
The Speaker announced that votes on suspensions, if
ordered, will be postponed until October 24.
Mr. Linder filed a report from the Committee on Rules on
H. Res. 270.
[...]
***********
ACLU Urges House To Reject Conference Report;
Decries Deeply Flawed Legislative Process FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Phil Gutis
Tuesday, October 23, 2001
202-675-2312 WASHINGTON - Decrying a deeply flawed legislative
process, the
American Civil Liberties Union today urged the House of
Representatives
to reject the conference report on the anti-terrorism bill. "This
legislation is based on the faulty assumption that safety must
come at
the expense of civil liberties," said Laura W. Murphy, Director
of the ACLU
Washington National Office. "We can be safe and fight terrorism
without
substantially surrendering our civil liberties." In a letter to
the full
House, which could consider the conference report as
early as tonight, Murphy said the USA Act (HR 2975) would give
enormous,
unwarranted power to the executive branch unchecked by meaningful
judicial
review. Most of the new powers, the ACLU said, could be used
against
American citizens in counter-terrorism investigations and in
routine
criminal investigations completely unrelated to terrorism. "These
new and
unchecked powers could be used against American citizens who
are not under criminal investigation, immigrants who are here
within our
borders legally, and also against those whose First Amendment
activities are
deemed to be threats to national security by the Attorney
General," the
ACLU's letter said. With House offices closed and staff unable to
access
their papers, Murphy
said that the process that brought the conference report to the
floor is
deeply flawed and an offense to the thoughtful legislative
process necessary
to protect the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. "In past
times of
tragedy and fear, our government has harassed,
investigated and arrested people solely because of their race,
religion,
national origin, speech or political beliefs," the ACLU said. "We
must not
allow that to happen again even as we work together to protect
ourselves
from future terrorist attacks." The ACLU letter to the House can
be found at:
http://www.aclu.org/congress/l102301a.html Melissa Schwartz
***********
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing
list
You may redistribute this message freely if you include this
notice.
Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/
To subscribe to Politech:
http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * From the Listowner * * * * * * * * * * * *
. To unsubscribe from this list, send a message to:
majordomo at scn.org In the body of the message, type:
unsubscribe scn
==== Messages posted on this list are also available on the web at: ====
* * * * * * * http://www.scn.org/volunteers/scn-l/ * * * * * * *
More information about the scn
mailing list