Let the Unconstitutional Patriot Act Expire!

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Let the Unconstitutional Patriot Act Expire!

Posted on 13 December 2009 by admin

There are certain provisions of the Patriot Act handed to the American people in the wake of 9/11 that are set to expire at the end of 2009. The Senate is set to disentangle itself from the healthcare debate long enough to address the issues in response to the Obama administration’s desire to reauthorize the Patriot Act. Then the Senate bill would have to be reconciled with one of two bills already introduced in the House.

Currently the two bills in the House and one in the Senate contain different approaches and proposals to the various expiring provisions of the Patriot Act. Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle are said to be working toward an agreement so that a consensus and passage can be quickly reached.

The version in the Senate, the Leahy/Feinstein Bill S.1692, would reauthorize three very questionable provisions until the end of 2013. H.R. 3845 sponsored by John Conyers (D-Mich.) would reauthorize two provisions, allowing one to lapse. Silvestre Reyes (D-Texas) introduced his version, H.R. 3969, into the House and it is said to mimic the Leahy/Feinstein bill in the Senate.

While H.R. 3969 has not made its way through the various committees yet, H.R. 3845 has and is the most likely candidate to be moved forward. It is already poised to skip any formal markups so it could be brought to the floor very quickly and without much notice.

Limiting the size and scope of the Patriot Act is not altogether a bad idea. But in order to stop the spread of a totalitarian state and return to our constitutional principles of limited government, the Patriot Act would need to be eliminated altogether.

Contact your senators and representatives and urge them to oppose the reauthorization of any aspects of, or amendments to, the Patriot Act via H.R. 3845, H.R. 3969, or S.1692.

Special thanks to Robert Owens and JBS for providing this alert.