Murkowski Applauds New Talks on Patriot Act Reauthorization
MURKOWSKI APPLAUDS NEW TALKS ON PATRIOT ACT REAUTHORIZATION
Saying that the draft Patriot Act reauthorization conference report is unacceptable, Sen. Lisa Murkowski today applauded the announcement that conferees are working together to address the shortcomings of the legislation.
"We have worked too long and too hard to allow this conference report to eliminate the modest protections for civil liberties that were agreed to unanimously in the Senate," Murkowski said. "There is still time for the conference committee to step back and agree to the Senate's bipartisan approach. If the conference committee doesn't do that, we will fight to stop this bill from becoming law."
In a letter sent yesterday to Patriot Act reauthorization conferees, Murkowski and the other original co-sponsors of the SAFE Act said that the reauthorization conference report as drafted would be unacceptable. Because of the Senators' objections, Judiciary chairman Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA) and ranking member Sen. Pat Leahy (D-VT) announced that they were in talks to reach consensus on the bill.
Murkowski noted that the conference report as drafted is a significant departure from the bipartisan balances between civil liberties protection and law enforcement needs struck in the Senate's unanimously passed bill.
Murkowski, the first Senator to introduce legislation to modify the Patriot Act in 2003, joined Senators Larry Craig (R-ID), John Sununu (R-NH), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Ken Salazar (D-CO) in signing yesterday's letter.
"At stake is the loss of leverage for further changes to the Patriot Act that the current sunset provisions provide," said Murkowski. "It also means that many of the provisions that I believe need to be modified will remain in their current form."
Specific issues of concern in the conference report signaled by Murkowski and the SAFE Act co-sponsors include:
The allowance of the government to obtain sensitive personal information with only a mere showing of relevance and without the burden of proving a specific connection between records being sought and individuals under suspicion. A lack of meaningful judicial review regarding the government's assertion that a gag order be in place for someone who is under investigation because through a National Security Letter. The inclusion of seven year sunsets on controversial patriot act provisions instead of four-year sunsets. The requirement that the government notify the target of a sneak and peek search no later than 30 days after the search rather than within seven days, as the Senate bill provides.
http://murkowski.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=249042