Constitutional Law

Another Three Months for Patriot Act

By Allie Bohm, Center for Democracy

Facing a looming deadline, overblown doomsday stories ("Oh my goodness, 'lone wolf' has never been used; if it expires, how will the government ever keep us safe from a terrorist attack?!"), and a series of mostly bad options, the Senate gathered up its courage . . . and kicked the can down the road. On Tuesday, the Senate voted 86-12 to extend the Patriot Act as is for another three months.

Then, just this morning, the House of Representatives took a break from its marathon of slashing and burning our civil liberties — I mean considering the Continuing Resolution that would fund (or, defund) the government for the rest of fiscal year 2011 — to concur 279-143 with the three month extension. That bill is now on its way to the president's desk.

That's the bad news. The good news is we now have another three months to convince Congress to finally do the right thing and reform the Patriot Act to ensure that it can no longer be used to violate the rights of everyday people who have nothing to do with terrorism. So, please go to our Action Center and get started now!

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Full post as published by Blog of Rights on February 17, 2011 (boomark / email).