Thread: GOP struggles for PATRIOT Act votes

GOP struggles for PATRIOT Act votes


The six-year extension was offered by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.). | AP Photo

By JOHN BRESNAHAN & JAKE SHERMAN | 5/12/11 4:38 AM EDT
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House Republican leaders are aggressively lobbying rank-and-file GOP lawmakers to pass a long-term extension of the Patriot Act, a Bush-era anti-terrorism law that has already provided Republicans with an embarrassing defeat early in their majority.

A high-profile test looms Thursday when the House Judiciary Committee takes up the legislation and the internal debate among Republicans reveals that the 90-day extension passed in February hasn’t mollified all concerns among some conservatives about the domestic surveillance law.

Republican leaders have had to play up the death of Osama bin Laden — and fears of retaliation by Al Qaeda following the May 1 U.S. raid that killed him — as reasons for extending the controversial legislation, arguing that American counterterrorism experts need the authority granted them under the Patriot Act in order to thwart any plots against the U.S.

FBI Director Robert Mueller will give a classified briefing to the House Republican Conference on Friday, outlining the agency’s support for the proposed extension of several contentious provisions of the law. Mueller and U.S. intelligence officials have already met privately with members of the Judiciary panel to discuss the measure, according to several lawmakers.

House Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) offered a stern warning to his fellow lawmakers in a closed conference meeting Wednesday at the Capitol Hill Club: Don’t you dare vote no unless you attend Mueller’s briefing and ask your questions.

The six-year extension was offered by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), a senior member of the Judiciary panel, with backing from Reps. Lamar Smith (R-Texas) and Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), the chairmen of the Judiciary and Intelligence committees, respectively.

The three provisions up for reauthorization May 28 have proved controversial in the past. One covers “roving wiretapsâ€

Tea Partiers Help ACLU, House Dems Stop Patriot Act Renewal

Feb 9, 2011
The American Civil Liberties Union's Michelle Richardson didn't know where things stood ahead of the House's vote expended certain provisions of the PATRIOT Act last night.

"I have no special inside knowledge on how this is going to shake down, but we're certainly going to be watching it closely," she told TPM ahead of the Tuesday night vote.

The big mystery was how the Tea Party-backed members would break on the first national security vote in the new Congress -- and whether the libertarian leanings of members from the right could align with concerns about government overreach on the left. Richardson said they'd be "seeing if the small government beliefs that have been espoused also apply in the national security context."

In the end, 26 Republicans broke with their leadership to oppose the bill, which still gained a majority of votes (227 to 14 but didn't pass.

While the bill to extend certain provisions of the PATRIOT Act had the support of the White House, it was a coalition of Democrats and Republicans that stopped the legislation from reaching the two-thirds vote needed under the House's expedited procedures. The extension could still pass with a simple majority under a different process.

Under the provisions that are set to expire, the government is allowed to set up roving wiretaps, track foreign citizens who might be acting alone in plotting attacks and gain easy access to certain types of business records.


http://tpmmuckraker.talkingpointsmemo.c ... use_de.php

They had better not even try to trade this for votes on any amnesty, including the "nightmare dream act"!!!