Patriot Act Measures Extended For 90 Days By Congress

[Zephie]

Source: The Huffington Post

WASHINGTON — Congress has given itself three months to consider changes to provisions of anti-terrorism law that have been valuable in tracking security threats but have drawn fire from defenders of privacy rights.

The House on Thursday followed the Senate in voting to add 90 days to the legal authority for three provisions, including two from the Patriot Act enacted shortly after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001.

Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill before the provisions expire on Feb. 28.

Lawmakers will now hold hearings on possible changes to the law enforcement tools to guarantee civil liberties. At issue are roving wiretaps to monitor multiple communication devices, government access to business records that might be relevant to terrorist investigations, and secret surveillance of non-American "lone wolf" terrorist suspects.

Read more: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/17/patriot-act-vote_n_824513.html

[dpbrown]

1. All this does is give them time to cobble together a secret vote to extend them longer or forever

If Congress had a better idea for changing the laws, it would be better to let the law lapse and come at it fresh.

[nalnn]

2. Didn't this fail?

Isn't this the one that failed in the House a couple of weeks ago? If so, how is it being extended for 90 days without another vote? Or was this the new vote on it?

[Matt Shapiro]

8. Actually the House passed an extension through December on Monday,

but the Senate only went for three months, and the House has now gone along with the shorter extension.

These horrible provisions should simply be allowed to expire, but 3 months is better than 12. It keeps the issue current, and allows a (small) opportunity to curtail these provisions.

The best solution would be the re-introduction and passage of the Justice Act, which would eliminate these provisions and also curtail the National Security Letters which were abused by the FBI, but are not sunsetting.

[Name removed]

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[davidthegnome]

4. Chains we can all believe in

He who sacrifices freedom for safety deserves neither.

Should the President sign this travesty - this outright despicable assault on civil rights (ironically dubbed the Patriot Act), he will lose whatever dwindling faith I may have had left in him. I will support any progressive challenger in 2012.... hopefully there will be one to support.

Have they even read the documentation regarding these extensions they are signing into law? Do they even give a damn?

This part strikes me as amusing: "Lawmakers will now hold hearings on possible changes to the law enforcement tools to guarantee civil liberties."

Really? Wow, like, this couldn't have been done years ago? Considering that the Patriot act is an outright violation and despicable assault on the civil rights of every American citizen. Possible changes to the law enforcement tools to guarantee civil liberties? My ass. The fact that these extensions have passed in the first place clearly indicates that our current government scoffs at the notion of civil liberties.

I don't care one bit about his reasoning - or the reasoning of those who support this bill. I call it like I see it - treason.

[lame54]

6. love it

[frylock]

5. changilicous

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

7. Well, "...the home of the brave" is having a bad case of the heebie-jeebies.

“The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary.” H.L. Mencken