Hearing to Strengthen Patriot Act 2 Sheduled for Tomorrow

All you lovers' of democracy take note: the Senate Intelligence Committee is scheduled to begin hearings on renewing and strengthening Patriot Act 2.This will be an open hearing, scheduled tomorrow, Tuesday, May 24th.

It seems Pat Roberts, chairman of the Intelligence Committee, has been drafting a strengthening of the Patriot Act.

From this Washington Post Article:

But the measure being written by Sen. Pat Roberts (R-Kan.) would give the FBI new power to issue administrative subpoenas, which are not reviewed by a judge or a grand jury, for quickly obtaining records, electronic data or other evidence in terrorism investigations, according to aides for the committee who briefed reporters yesterday.

Recipients could challenge the subpoenas in court, the aides said, and the administration would have to report to Congress twice a year on how it was using the new power.

The administration has sought this power for two years but so far has been rebuffed by lawmakers. It is far from certain that Congress will give the administration everything it wants this year.

Was this committee meeting originally scheduled to be behind closed doors? According to the ACLU, "The Senate Intelligence Committee announced today that it is rushing forward with a markup of Patriot Act reauthorization legislation Thursday, but that the session will be behind closed doors.

Perhaps increased press scrutiny led them to schedule an open hearing for tomorrow.

According this CounterPunch article, the Judicial Committee may be all that is standing between this strengthening of the act, and outright passage:

The controversial act, many provisions of which seriously undermine basic Constitutional rights and protections, was just being examined in hearings by the Senate Judiciary Committee headed by Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), where it came under heavy criticism from both right and left. Both the Intelligence and Judiciary committees have jurisdiction over the act, but the Judiciary committee, with its open hearings, was widely seen as having primacy....

...The administration has been arguing for renewal or for making the provisions permanent, but a coalition of conservative and liberal groups calling itself Patriots to Restore Checks and Balances, has expressed hopes of convincing a majority of the Judiciary Committees of both House and Senate to modify those and several other rights-threatening measures in the PATRIOT Act before sending the renewal legislation to the full Congress in June....

..."I guess now we'll have to see whether the people on the Judiciary Committee will have the political courage to stand up to this," says Graves.

I called the Senate Intelligence Committee Staff to try to get an agenda or copy of Senator Roberts' proposed amendments to the Patriot Act, but was told this wasn't available.

"We never do that", the rather glib staff person said, in response to my request. "You mean, as a citizen, I can't review ahead of time what is being proposed to strengthen the Patriot Act?"

"You'll get that after the fact," she said. "We'll release a transcript of the hearing".

"You mean after the fact I'll be able to review what has already been decided"? I asked.

At that point, she became a little exasperated, and passed me on to another staff member's answering machine. I left a detailed message, inquiring as why a citizen cannot review the proposed changes to the Patriot Act 2.

These changes, of course, have already been leaked to the press. But it was fun harassing, gently, the Intelligence Committee staff member,  who apparently is not used to taking questions directly from citizens.

The Senate Intelligence Committee phone number is 202-224-1700. btw.

Committe Members, and their Washington D.C. phone numbers, are:

Pat Roberts, Kansas-Chairman, Republican-202-224-4774
John  D. Rockefeller lV, West Virginia-Vice Chairman, Democrat-202-224-6472

Republicans     

Orrin G. Hatch, Utah-202-224-5251                                      
 Mike Dewine, Ohio-202-224-2315       
Christopher S. Bond, Missouri-202-224-5721         
Trent Lott, Mississippi-202-224-6253         
 Olympia J. Snowe, Maine-202-224-5324         
 Chuck Hagel, Nebraska-202-221-4224         
 Saxby Chambliss, Georgia-202-224-3521

Democrats

Carl Levin, Michigan
Dianne Feinstein, California-202-224-3841
Ron Wyden, Oregon-202-224-5225
Evan Bayh, Indiana-202-224-5623
Barbara A. Mikulski, Maryland-202-224-4654
Jon S. Corzine, New Jersey-202-224-4744

Ex Officio Members

     Bill Frist, Tennessee
     Harry Reid, Nevada
     John Warner, Virginia

This is an excellent analysis by Nancy Chang, Senior Litigation Attorney Center for Constitutional Rights, of Patriot Act 2 and its' dangerous attacks on our civil liberties. This is a pdf file and must be downloaded. Remember, this act was rushed through Congress, immediately after 9/11, and few Congresspersons were allowed the time to actually read and contemplate the bill.

Apparently, they didn't bother to ask for the time either.