Feingold PAct update: "Your voices are being heard"

[Rose Siding]

SENATE DEBATES PATRIOT ACT
By Russ Feingold

Late yesterday I spoke on the Senate floor and laid out, in detail, the reasons why this conference report is a bad deal for the American people. This morning I appeared on C-SPAN's Washington Journal. We talked about the strong bipartisan efforts to fix the problems with the Patriot Act.

The Senate was scheduled to begin debate on the Patriot Act at 10:30 AM ET this morning. I will be on the Senate floor listening and taking part in the debate and if you have the opportunity, please tune in. It's clear that your voices are being heard. Our efforts continue to pick up steam and more and more members of Congress understand that we need to change this conference report to address the important civil liberties concerns we have discussed over the last 4 years.

This is not a partisan issue. This is an American issue. This is a constitutional issue. We can come together to give the government the tools it needs to fight terrorism and protect the rights and freedoms of innocent citizens.

http://www.tpmcafe.com/story/2005/12/15/104252/40

[eek]

1. Can anyone bring me up to speed?

As far as what action I should take *right now*?

I've lost track as to whether I should be contacting Congresspeople or Senators or both.
FWIW, Feingold is my Senator.
I have called him to thank him.
What else is most important today?


Sorry to be a dumwad.

Thanks for your help.

[Wordie]

2. People need to contact their Senators, ask them to vote against cloture.

Also, you could ask them to support the idea of extending the debate for another 90 days (this is one of the other suggestions that's come up just recently). To do so would allow further discussion, and one would hope, resolution of the problems. They need 60 votes to stop cloture.

Here's a quick way to contact your Senators: http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm

Just choose your state, and then go to the individual Senators webpage. They will have a "feedback" or "contact" link. You can post your comments directly to them using the form.

In your particular case, I suppose you could contact your other Senator, and send Feingold a note of support and thanks for his efforts. Here is Feingold's feedback page: http://www.senate.gov/~feingold/contact.html

If you are a good writer, a LTTE might be a good idea too.

(Cloture, btw, means that the debate would be over.)

I'm recommending this thread.

[eek]

5. Very helpful! A couple more ??'s

When is the cloture vote coming up?

What committee is "in charge" of this issu?
I usually like to contact committee leadership regardless of party or home state.

Thank you for the advice.

[Wordie]

6. I don't have all the answers...but

My understanding is that the bill is due for a vote on Friday. And it appears the committee in question is Judiciary (although I couldn't tell you why). The cloture vote will be in the full Senate, as I understand it. Again, please anybody who reads this who has other information, please correct me if necessary.

FYI, I've posted a copy of my own letter to my senators, if anyone wants to cut and paste, here: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=1987724&mesg_id=1988795

Here's another article, this one from the Christian Science Monitor:
http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/1214/p03s02-uspo.html

from the December 14, 2005 edition

An 11th-hour drive to amend Patriot Act
Congress is set to vote Friday on extending parts of the law, but some say privacy needs protecting.
By Gail Russell Chaddock | Staff writer of The Christian Science Monitor
WASHINGTON – An unusual coalition of lawmakers and activists opposed to parts of the USA Patriot Act is mounting a last push to persuade Congress to take more time before voting to extend some of the law's most controversial provisions.

At issue is whether Congress has been rigorous enough in assessing how the Patriot Act - which the White House calls vital to its war on terror - has been implemented. Many lawmakers were stunned by recent press reports, denied but not corrected by the Justice Department, that the FBI has issued as many as 30,000 "national security letters" since the law was passed nearly unanimously in 2001. The letters order private and public entities to turn over records and other private data about Americans - and remain silent about it.

In the run-up to a vote later this week on extending controversial provisions of the act, civil liberties and privacy groups released their own research, based largely on documents obtained through the Freedom of Information Act, that they say signals numerous reporting violations and lax oversight.

"Congress should not reauthorize the Patriot Act until these questions are resolved," says Marc Rotenberg, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center in Washington, which released FBI documents it had obtained, at a press briefing Tuesday.

[Joanne98]

7. Diane (neo-con) Feinstein says she'll support the fillibuster.......

On saw it on the tee vee so it must be true....

[mb7588a]

3. feingold is on cspan2 now talking about patriot act,

immigration, iraq...

[FreedomAngel82]

4. Yes!

I'm so glad. We need to get rid of that UnConstiutional crap.

[Wordie]

8. Not enough congressional oversight: 30k NSLs have been issued, but

Congress was not even aware of that!

(NSL= National Security Letter) These allow snooping by law enforcement. The way the law is now written, citizens have to prove that the snooping is "unreasonable" in order to stop it. This is an unreasonable burden to place on a citizen, and completely backwards, as the burden under our laws generally falls on law enforcement to prove a legitimate reason for such snooping. Why should it be reversed in this instance?

[stickdog]

9. Make a fuss, Russ! (nt)