EFF, ACLU Slam Reid ‘Rubber-Stamp Renewal’ of Government Spying Powers
Not one Capitol Hill proposal to renew Patriot Act sections expiring May 27 sufficiently protects U.S. citizens from government spying, civil liberties advocates said Thursday. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., on Wednesday introduced a much scaled-back alternative to the extensions bill approved in March by the Senate Judiciary Committee. Expiring Patriot Act sections relate to roving wiretaps, lone wolf attacks and Section 215 orders to obtain “any tangible thing.” House lawmakers will vote next week on an extension bill, but it was unclear Thursday on which proposal.
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Reid’s bill (S-1022) extends the expiring sections to 2015 and makes no changes to surveillance law. That’s different from the Judiciary Committee bill (S-193) by Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. It extends provisions to 2014 and makes some changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to bolster people’s privacy. The Reid bill is closer in substance to extension legislation passed by the House Judiciary Committee. HR-1800, by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., would extend the roving wiretap and Section 215 provisions to 2018, and permanently extend the lone wolf section.
"It is horribly disappointing to see Senator Reid undermining the hard work of both Democrats and Republicans who have serious civil liberties concerns about passing yet another rubber-stamp renewal” of the Patriot Act, “particularly when the Senate Judiciary Committee has favorably recommended a bill from Senator Leahy that contains at least some much-needed reforms,” said an e-mail from Kevin Bankston, senior staff attorney of the Electronic Freedom Foundation. “The idea of renewing the PATRIOT Act without any new checks and balances at all is absolutely unacceptable from a civil liberties standpoint.” The Reid, Sensenbrenner and even the Leahy bills “represent a huge step back” from the Justice Act, introduced in the last Congress by former Sen. Russ Feingold, D-Wis., Bankston said.
Reid’s bill is better than Sensenbrenner’s because it includes a shorter extension, allowing for more congressional oversight, said Michelle Richardson, legislative counsel at the American Civil Liberties Union’s D.C. office. But the ACLU opposes any extension that has no privacy protections, she said. Leahy’s bill includes “moderate” reforms that do not limit the government’s spying authority, she said. Reid’s office didn’t respond to a request for comment. The Leahy and Sensenbrenner offices declined to comment.
The House will consider an extension on the floor next week, “details of which are yet to be determined,” said a spokeswoman for Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va. She didn’t specify which extension proposal would be considered. Reid hasn’t announced the timing of a Senate vote, and the provisions expire next Friday. Another short-term extension is possible, but has not been introduced, Richardson said.