Thread: Tensions build between Paul, GOP over Patriot Act extension

Tensions build between Paul, GOP over Patriot Act extension


By Jordan Fabian - 05/26/11 02:08 PM ET

Tensions between Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and GOP leaders burst into the open Thursday over a pro-gun-rights amendment Paul wants to add to the Patriot Act.

Paul said Republican leaders were working to scuttle his measure, which would restrict the federal government from examining some gun records as part of anti-terror efforts.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) is allowing a vote on Paul’s amendment, but Paul told Slate that his party's leaders were working to kill it.

“I'm now being blocked by the Republicans, and the Republicans tell me that they're going to refuse to let me have any votes,â€

Not Backing Down

On Wednesday, Senator Rand Paul responded to Harry Reid's baseless attacks on his opposition to the misnamed "Patriot" Act and reiterated his defense of the Bill of Rights and the American people's privacy.


Video
Senator Rand Paul

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/

The Tyranical grip tightens just a little bit more. Whats it going to take? An attempt to abolish the Constitution all together?

Contact Info for Mitch McConnell


Direct office number: 202-224-2541


Toll-free switchboard number (you must ask for McConnell’s office): 1-877-762-8762

Email: The Senator does NOT accept emails from out of state[/b]

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PATRIOT Act Clears Vote Hurdle, Could Still Expire



by Kristin Brown | May 26, 2011

The Senate cleared a crucial hurdle on the PATRIOT Act Thursday, smoothing the way for final passage, though whether or not this can occur before the act expires at midnight is in doubt.

The Senate voted 79-18 to end debate on the bill which extends for four years three expiring provisions of the terrorism surveillance law, shutting off the possibility of amendments.

But freshman Sen. Rand Paul, who has detailed a number of privacy concerns, could potentially dig in his heels and insist on the full 30 hours of debate required after a filibuster is broken. The Kentucky Republican, a member of the Senate Tea Party Caucus, had a number of amendments to tighten judicial oversight on the bill, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., accused Paul, in a rare, stinging rebuke, of slow-walking the bill over unrelated matters and throwing U.S. national security in jeopardy.

At issue is a Paul amendment addressing gun laws that would ensure that some gun-purchase records remain secret, with federal officials unable to access them, unless a judge approves that access.

Reid attacked Paul Wednesday night, essentially accusing him of enabling terrorist activities by holding out for the gun provision.

"He's fighting for an amendment to protect the right - not of average citizens, but of terrorists - to cover up their gun," Reid said. "It he thinks that it's going to be a badge of courage on his side to have held this up for a few hours, he's made a mistake."

Paul rushed to the floor in his own defense, calling the Reid accusations "offensive" and accused Democrats of being "petrified to vote on issues of guns." The conservative senator called for "a debate on a higher plane," saying he was merely trying to institute some "Constitutional constraints."

Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle took to the Senate floor Thursday to urge Congress to pass the final legislation before the midnight deadline.

The Intelligence Community weighed in, as well. The Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper, sent a letter to Senate leaders with a stark warning that allowing the law to lapse "even for the briefest of time, the nation will be less secure." Clapper noted the treasure trove of intelligence materials found at the compound of the now-deceased terror leader, Usama bin Laden, and urged members to extend the expiring provision of the law so that every tool can be used to track down terror leads.

Congress is expected to approve the extension, which renews the ability of federal officials to access, with warrants, business or so-called "library" records, get court-approved roving wiretaps, and a so-called "lone wolf" provision that involves the surveillance of suspected terrorists not linked to a specific terrorist organization.

"I have no doubt that the four-year PATRIOT Act extension that members of both parties have agreed to will safeguard us from future attacks," said Senate Minority leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. "Now is not the time to surrender the tools authorized by this act, or to make them more difficult to use."



Trish Turner contributed to this report

Read more: http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/ ... z1NUK5JAux

Related Thread Here
GOP Leadership holding up Rand Paul's gun protection amendme
http://www.alipac.us/ftopict-239222.html

Originally Posted by working4change

Contact Info for Mitch McConnell


Direct office number: 202-224-2541


Toll-free switchboard number (you must ask for McConnell’s office): 1-877-762-8762

Email: The Senator does NOT accept emails from out of state[/b]

I found this for you!
http://mcconnell.senate.gov/public/inde ... ontactForm

U.S. Senate
Congress OKs Last-Minute Patriot Act Extension

Published May 26, 2011

The Senate voted Thursday to extend the government's Patriot Act powers to search records and conduct roving wiretaps in pursuit of terrorists. (AP)

The House followed the Senate on Thursday in approving a four-year extension of the government's Patriot Act powers to search records and conduct roving wiretaps in pursuit of terrorists, casting the votes with hours to go before the measures were set to expire.

Following the 72-23 Senate vote, the House voted 250-153 to quickly approve the legislation for President Obama's signature to beat a midnight deadline when three terror-fighting tools would expire. The action comes a month after intelligence and military forces hunted down Usama bin Laden.

"Failure to sign this legislation poses a significant risk to U.S. national security," White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said in a statement. "As long as Congress approves the extension, the president will direct the use of the autopen to sign it."

The measure extends the legal life of roving wiretaps, court-ordered searches of business records and surveillance of non-American "lone wolf" suspects without confirmed ties to terrorist groups.

With Obama now in Europe, officials were still working out the logistics of signing the bill before surveillance operations were seriously disrupted. A short-term expiration would not interrupt ongoing operations but would bar the government from seeking warrants for new investigations.

The roving wiretaps and access to business records are small parts of the USA Patriot Act that was enacted after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. But unlike most of the act, which is permanent law, those provisions must be periodically renewed because of concerns that they could be used to violate privacy rights. The same applies to the "lone wolf" provision, which was part of a 2004 intelligence act.

Earlier, the Senate struggled to find a way to stage a final vote in the face of continued resistance from a single senator, Republican freshman Rand Paul of Kentucky.

Paul argued that in the rush to meet the terrorist threat in 2001 Congress enacted a Patriot Act that tramples on individual liberties. He had some backing from liberal Democrats and civil liberties groups who have long contended the Patriot Act gives the government authority to spy on innocent citizens.

Sen. Mark Udall, D-Colo., said the provision on collecting business records can expose law-abiding citizens to government scrutiny. "If we cannot limit investigations to terrorism or other nefarious activities, where do they end?" he asked.

"The Patriot Act has been used improperly again and again by law enforcement to invade Americans' privacy and violate their constitutional rights," said Laura W. Murphy, director of the ACLU Washington legislative office.

But intelligence officials have denied improper use of surveillance tools, and this week both FBI Director Robert Mueller and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper sent letters to congressional leaders warning of serious national security consequences if the provisions were allowed to lapse.

The Obama administration says that without the three authorities the FBI might not be able to obtain information on terrorist plotting inside the U.S. and that a terrorist who communicates using different cell phones and email accounts could escape timely surveillance.

"When the clock strikes midnight tomorrow, we would be giving terrorists the opportunity to plot attacks against our country, undetected," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on the Senate floor Wednesday. In unusually personal criticism of a fellow senator, he warned that Paul, by blocking swift passage of the bill, "is threatening to take away the best tools we have for stopping them."

The nation itself is divided over the Patriot Act, as reflected in a Pew Research Center poll last February, before the killing of bin Laden, that found that 34 percent felt the law "goes too far and poses a threat to civil liberties. Some 42 percent considered it "a necessary tool that helps the government find terrorists." That was a slight turnaround from 2004 when 39 percent thought it went too far and 33 percent said it was necessary.

Paul, after complaining that Reid's remarks were "personally insulting," asked whether the nation "should have some rules that say before they come into your house, before they go into your banking records, that a judge should be asked for permission, that there should be judicial review? Do we want a lawless land?"

In practice, law enforcement has used the three provisions sparingly. According to a senior Justice Department national security official testifying to Congress last March, the government has sought roving wiretap authority in about 20 cases a year between 2001 and 2010 and has sought warrants for business records less than 40 times a year, on average. The government has yet to use the lone wolf authority.

But the ACLU also points out that court approvals for business record access jumped from 21 in 2009 to 96 last year, and the organization contends the Patriot Act has blurred the line between investigations of actual terrorists and those not suspected of doing anything wrong.

Two Democratic critics of the Patriot Act, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Udall of Colorado, on Thursday extracted a promise from Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that she would hold hearings with intelligence and law enforcement officials on how the law is being carried out.

Wyden says that while there are numerous interpretations of how the Patriot Act works, the official government interpretation of the law remains classified. "A significant gap has developed now between what the public thinks the law says and what the government secretly claims it says," Wyden said.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., while supporting extension of the Patriot Act measures, also pushed for changes to make the law more transparent, including requiring the Justice Department to periodically report to Congress on whether the powers in the law were being used properly.

Leahy had also sought to require the government to show greater evidence of a link with a terrorist threat when it asks for access to business records such as library circulation records or book seller records.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/05 ... z1NVZTcjIX

"Failure to sign this legislation poses a significant risk to U.S. national security," White House spokesman Nick Shapiro said in a statement. "As long as Congress approves the extension, the president will direct the use of the autopen to sign it."


"When the clock strikes midnight tomorrow, we would be giving terrorists the opportunity to plot attacks against our country, undetected," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said on the Senate floor Wednesday. In unusually personal criticism of a fellow senator, he warned that Paul, by blocking swift passage of the bill, "is threatening to take away the best tools we have for stopping them."

If they are so worried about National Security then why the "beep" are they allowing unknown illegals to cross into the US on a daily basis?

Terrorists can already get into the US undetected thanks to the unsecured border and there is nothing stopping them from bringing in bombs. How exactly does this Act secure our Nation?

How President Obama barely beat the deadline to sign the Patriot Act extension -- without picking up a pen


How President Obama barely beat the deadline to sign the Patriot Act extension -- without picking up a pen

Declaration of Independence Signing John Trumbull painting who do you suppose got to keep the historic feather?

Because extending certain provisions of the Patriot Act before they expired at midnight last night was deemed so essential to national security, the extension legislation was, of course, left until the last minutes, thanks to the political paragons of Congress.

Republicans wanted a permanent extension. Democrats didn't.

They settled on June 1, 2015.

After a feud about guns, the four-year Patriot Act Sunset Extensions of 2011 passed in the Senate Thursday 72-23.

Then, with barely 300 minutes to spare, the House passed the same measure, 250-153. Our colleague Lisa Mascaro carefully chronicles some of the bill's provisions, what all the government spooks can peek into now still with secret federal court approval.

Phew, that was close! Law-abiding terrorists were just waiting for midnight (Eastern Daylight) to start plotting on the phone.Obama Signature

But, wait! The Patriot Act extension couldn't become law until it was signed by the president.

And if this is Friday, Obama must be off on another foreign trip somewhere. Sure enough, they found him 3,719 miles away toughing out a couple of days with other G-8 leaders in the French resort of Deauville.

According to aides, Obama had to be awakened early Friday, which was after the deadline by French beach resort time.

The commander-in-chief reportedly reviewed the provisions carefully and ordered his signature affixed to said bill.

Wait! What? The president of the United States didn't actually sign it himself??

Remember, back in 2009 when Obama was so excited about the economic stimulus bill that didn't really work as well as Joe Biden promised everybody? And so Obama flew Air Force One out to Denver with the legislation to personally sign it there, for some reason?

Well, here's one of the dirty not-so-little secrets of American politics. Yes, the....
...Declaration of Independence was actually signed in person by everyone using a feather. Perhaps 200 copies were printed that night and only 26 are known to survive. We'll leave it to Nicolas Cage to find the original original.

The modern truth, however, is that a very large number of the very large number of presidential signatures that leave any White House on photos, letters, mementoes, books, are actually fake. False. As phony as a Donald Trump presidential candidacy.Nicholas Cage in National Treasure

You might call them legal forgeries.

Those signatures are actually made by machines, robo-pens, that replicate Obama's leftish scrawl almost perfectly. If a president actually signed all the things he's supposed to sign, he wouldn't have any time for photo ops, working out or golf.

So, according to the White House, upon President Obama's direct specific orders from France, a machine put his name on the legislation back in the White House, where midnight had yet to arrive. The official White House notice of the signing arrived with just six minutes to spare.

Hopefully, the presidential machine knew the actual date better than the president did in London on Monday.

Thanks to the thorough folks at ABC News, we all now know that some years ago a government lawyer named Howard Nielson wrote a helpful memo opining that such a surrogate signing was legal.

“We examine the legal understanding of the word 'sign' at the time the Constitution was drafted and ratified and during the early years of the Republic," he wrote. "We find that, pursuant to this understanding ..... we conclude that the President need not personally perform the physical act of affixing his signature to a bill to sign it within the meaning of Article I, Section 7" of the Constitution.

Hopefully, the signature-signing machine is unplugged at night to avoid any embarrassing missile launches by janitors dusting the equipment.

But given recent conspiracy theories surrounding other Obama legal documents, we figure that the legality of his absentee, post-deadline ordering of the Patriot Act extension's signing before the deadline won't be challenged in any federal court much before lunch hour today.

-- Andrew Malcolm

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Photos: Signing of the Declaration of Independence, painting by John Trumbull; Larry Downing / Reuters; "National Treasure" (Cage).



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