Pallone Opposes Reauthorization of Patriot Act

"In the aftermath of 9/11, I supported the Patriot Act to give our law enforcement and intelligence agencies a wide variety of powers to help them catch terrorists before they strike and to help us win the war on terror. The vast majority of the Patriot Act is not under reauthorization and review today. Back in 2001, we knew we needed to change the way our agencies shared information and gathered intelligence, and for that reason we made 80-percent of the Patriot Act permanent.

"However, the Patriot Act also included 16 provisions that gave the government extra police powers that would sunset after four years so Congress could reevaluate their effectiveness and determine whether or not they violated personal liberties and personal privacy. I am concerned that some of these extended search and seizure powers are being used for purposes other than fighting terrorism.

"Based on the experiences of the last four years, my Democratic colleagues on the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees tried to improve the Patriot Act by balancing our nation's security with the constitutional right to privacy. I supported these efforts, but unfortunately they were rebuffed by the Republican leadership.

"The most egregious act by the Republican leadership was their insistence that 14 of the 16 provisions be made permanent and that the other two provisions sunset in ten years. Democrats tried to offer an amendment that would sunset each of the 16 provisions in four years, so we could then reexamine whether law enforcement were unnecessarily prying into the private lives of American citizens. The Republican leadership, fearing that the sunset provision might possibly pass, refused to allow a vote on the floor.

"Even during a time of war, it is dangerous to give the government extra police powers without any means to safeguard civil liberties. By refusing to sunset these provisions, the Republican leadership is allowing investigative agencies to continue secret surveillance indefinitely, without any opportunity to review possible invasions of civil liberties.

"House Republicans also abused their power by refusing to allow a vote on a provision already approved by the entire House earlier this month as part of an annual appropriations bill. The amendment, offered by Rep. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, would prevent law enforcement officials from searching library and bookstore records without ever demonstrating probable cause. The Sanders amendment was approved just weeks ago, but the Republican leadership refused to allow a vote to reverse this serious breach of basic constitutional rights.

"It is for these reasons that I will oppose reauthorization of the Patriot Act."