Tell your Congressperson to vote NO to the PATRIOT Act before tomorrow’s vote! The PATRIOT reauthorization bill being fast-tracked to the House floor contains NO reforms, and will be voted upon with NO debate and NO opportunity for amendments to add oversight and accountability. Help stop this sneak attack on your civil liberties.
Tell your Representative to vote “NO” on H.R. 514, the PATRIOT extension bill.
Last year, many important PATRIOT reform measures were proposed, and a bill filled with powerful new checks and balances was reported favorably out of the House Judiciary Committee. But, as it ran up against the deadline, Congress decided there was not enough time to fully consider those reforms. So, last year, Congress extended the “sunsetting” sections of the law until the end of this February, with a promise to fully consider the issues before the next deadline.
But now, in a legislative sneak attack, the new Republican leadership in the House is trying to duck Congress’ promise to consider PATRIOT reform, and is instead pushing your Representative to rubber-stamp another PATRIOT renewal. The House leaders have just announced that they’ll be “suspending the rules” so that a bill introduced by Rep. Sensenbrenner to extend the expiring provisions until December 8, 2011 will go to the House floor for a vote on Tuesday, without any debate and without any opportunity for anyone to offer amendments to improve the bill.
The expiring PATRIOT Act provisions should not be renewed, and certainly not without any debate or any new checks and balances to prevent abuse and protect civil liberties. Luckily, in order for the PATRIOT renewal bill to pass on Tuesday, it has to receive a yes vote from a full two-thirds of the House’s members. So a message from you, today, could make the critical difference. Contact your Representative today to make clear that you oppose H.R. 514, the PATRIOT extension bill!
