USA Patriot Act Additional Reauthorizing Amendments Act of 2006

USA PATRIOT ACT ADDITIONAL REAUTHORIZING AMENDMENTS ACT OF 2006 -- (House of Representatives - March 07, 2006)

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Mr. SANDERS. Madam Speaker, this is an extremely important debate. I want to begin by expressing my disappointment that this bill is being considered as a suspension along with the naming of post offices. Well, you know what, this is not a post-office-naming bill. This is a bill that deals with constitutional rights. It is an issue about which seven States in this country have raised concerns, as have hundreds of municipalities from one end of America to the other.

This is a bill that should allow for amendments and serious debate and not be considered simply as a suspension.

Madam Speaker, many Americans are wondering how it could be that in terms of national security, our President believes that it is okay for a foreign government with terrorist ties to run major ports in America; that that is okay. But when some of us say that maybe kids or just ordinary American citizens should be allowed to read the books that they want in libraries without being investigated by government agents, without any evidence that they are engaged in terrorist activities or have any ties to terrorism, that we cannot protect.

Madam Speaker, there is growing concern in this country with regard to the state of our civil liberties and our constitutional rights. Whether it is the President of the United States engaging, through the NSA, in illegal wiretaps without court orders, or the widespread use of national security letters, millions of Americans, whether they are progressives, whether they are conservatives or in between, are very concerned about Big Brother investigating the private lives, the private reading habits of ordinary Americans.

Madam Speaker, in June of 2005, I offered an amendment that passed with a very strong bipartisan vote, which said that libraries and book stores should be exempt from section 215, that it is wrong for the government to be able to access the reading records or the book purchases of innocent Americans unless they can establish that those individuals have ties with terrorism.

All of us want our government to be vigorous in protecting the American people against terrorism. But we want to do that in a way that does not undermine the constitutional rights of the American people. Unfortunately, the Republican leadership took that amendment, which passed with strong bipartisan support, and they tossed it out. They rejected the will of a vast majority of the Members of the House of Representatives and did not incorporate that language into the final bill.

Madam Speaker, this is an issue of huge consequence. Fighting terrorism is an enormously important issue, but we can and must do it without undermining the constitutional rights of the American people.

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