Politics

PATRIOT Act Extension Fails, For Now

By Sunlight Foundation & Participatory Politics Foundation

House Republicans tried this evening to pass a bill extending three of the most controversial provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act by using an expedited procedure that allowed for just 40 minute of debate and no amendments. But the rules of the procedure also required that 2/3rds of the House vote in favor for the extension to pass. So, even though a strong majority of the House voted in favor, they were 13 votes short and the attempt failed. The bill will, however, be brought back to the floor for another vote under standard rules, probably in the next few days, and since only a simple majority will be needed it is expected to pass then. 

Shulamit Shvartsman describes the three provisions that would be extended under the bill (without modification):

• Business Records provision – grants warrants for “business records” without having to notify the suspect. Business records include any record ranging from banking to library to medical. The government must only say that the records are relevant to a terrorism investigation. From 2004 to 2007, the business records provision was used 220 times. It was most often requested in combination with requests for phone records.
• Lone Wolf provision – allows warrants for electronic monitoring of someone even without showing the person is an agent of a foreign power or a suspected terrorist. While it hasn’t been used yet, the administration says it should still be available for future investigations.
• Roving Wiretaps provision – designed to allow investigators to quickly monitor the communications of suspects who change their cell phone without investigators having to go back to court for a new court authorization. That provision has been used an average of 22 times a year.

The bill will no go back to the rules committee, get a new rule, and be brought up under regular order sometime soon. That probably means we’ll get a little more debate time (not that anyone takes floor debate seriously) and, if Republicans choose to live up to their campaign pledge to use more open rules, an opportunity for members who oppose the provisions in their current form to seek reforms via amendments. 

But make no mistake — today’s slip up is not going to stop this bill from becoming law in the next few weeks. Senate Democrats are already preparing to fast-track companion legislation (S. 149) by using a procedure that will allow them to skip the committee process and bring the bill straight to the floor. The Obama Administration “strongly supports” the extension and is even pushing for it to be longer, so there’s no possibility of a veto.

Full post as published by Open Congress on February 08, 2011 (boomark / email).