Via Cboldt
H.R.3199 - This is the active bill
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:H.R.3199:
Summary of Senate amendments to H.R.3199
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:HR03199:@@@D&summ2=1&
S.1389 - Senate Version (useful only as raw comparison with H.R.3199)
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d109:s.01389:
Sunsetting provisions of Patriot Act - CRS-RL34499
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/34499.pdf
Links to additional Patriot Act Documents (FOIA requests, etc.)
http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/sunset.html
Nov 17 Letter from 6 Senators to Specter, Leahy, Roberts & Rockefeller
http://www.epic.org/privacy/terrorism/usapatriot/senateletter_111705.pdf
Article regarding the effect of the letter (excerpts quoted below)
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000103&sid=aV62ogQWNxLg&refer=us
Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, a Pennsylvania Republican, is in talks with Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the panel's senior Democrat, and other lawmakers to build support for the accord [an agreement between House and Senate reelating to details of what the Senate would pass].
Specter and his House counterpart, Representative James Sensenbrenner, a Wisconsin Republican, are trying to seal an agreement so it can be approved by both chambers before lawmakers leave at the end of this week for the Thanksgiving recess.
``We're working on it,'' Specter said. When asked about Feingold's threat to filibuster, he joked, ``He's got strong lungs.''
Senator Richard Durbin, the No. 2 Democrat, said Republican congressional leaders shouldn't underestimate the opposition to the accord.
Durbin said he would support Feingold's efforts to block a vote on the agreement. He declined to say whether enough Democrats would support the effort to sustain a filibuster, which requires 60 votes to overcome.
Durbin, Feingold, Sununu and three other senators sent a letter to Specter, Leahy and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Pat Roberts and Jay Rockefeller, the panel's senior Democrat, saying they would oppose the agreement unless ``significant'' changes were made. ...
Republican Senators Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Larry Craig of Idaho and Democratic Senator Ken Salazar of Colorado also signed the letter.
... the House legislation provided fewer checks on government authority than the Senate version.
Senator Jeff Sessions, a member of the Judiciary Committee, said he was concerned Democrats and civil-liberties groups are trying to weaken the FBI's ability to conduct terrorism investigations.
In the current agreement, which he supports, ``We actually have more restrictions on terrorist investigators than on prosecutors and police all over America,'' said Sessions, an Alabama Republican.
Leahy still holds out hope a broadly supported agreement can be reached, said Tracy Schmaler, his spokeswoman.
Nonetheless, a few links to FR threads, and to Senator Craig material ...
Sources: Tentative Patriot Act Deal Struck - Posted 11/16/2005 1:12:23 PM EST
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1523216/posts
Senators Threaten to Hold Up Patriot Act - Posted 11/17/2005 1:52:48 PM EST
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1523960/posts
Extension of Patriot Act Faces Threat of Filibuster - Posted 11/18/2005 1:04:35 AM EST
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1524339/posts
November 16, 2005
Senators Craig, Durbin, Feingold, Sununu, Salazar, and Murkowski"To support this bill, we need to see significant movement back toward the Senate position in the following areas: (1) Section 215 (library and other sensitive business records); (2) Section 505 (National Security Letters); (3) sunset provisions; and (4) Section 213 (sneak and peek). We will communicate with the conferees this afternoon and provide specific suggestions to improve the bill in these four important areas.
"For the past several years, our bipartisan coalition has been working together to highlight and fix the civil liberties problems posed by the Patriot Act. We introduced the SAFE Act to address those problems, while still maintaining important law enforcement powers needed to combat terrorism. We have worked too long and too hard to allow this conference report to eliminate the modest protections for civil liberties that were agreed to unanimously in the Senate.
http://craig.senate.gov/releases/pr111605b.htm
At the time the PATRIOT Act was enacted, it was timely, necessary, and evidence of Congress' commitment to national security. I voted for the PATRIOT Act. However, it was not a perfect bill. In the time since the act was voted upon, many provisions have come under scrutiny.
"It is possible to fight terrorism without eroding the Constitution and the rights of Americans, and our bill is designed to restore that critical balance in the aggressive enforcement of our laws."
-Senator Larry CraigIt has become clear to me and many others that some adjustments must be made in order to protect the liberties of law-abiding individuals. In order to make these adjustments, I introduced the Security and Freedom Enhancement (SAFE) Act of 2005.
The SAFE Act makes a few narrowly-targeted adjustments to the PATRIOT Act, which are designed to preserve the rights of Americans without reducing the federal government's ability to fight the war on terrorism.
I originally introduced this legislation during last year's session of Congress. After further refinement of the enhancements it brings to the PATRIOT Act, I recently reintroduced the SAFE Act for consideration by the current session of Congress. The Senate's consideration of the SAFE Act is timely, as some provisions of the PATRIOT Act are set to expire at the end of 2005, and will require reauthorization by Congress in order to be extended.
Resources:
SAFE Act Press Conference - MP3, 2:35/2.5 MB, 04/05/05
Summary of the SAFE Act of 2005 - PDF, April 2005
Revisions to the SAFE Act of 2005 - PDF, April 2005Larry Craig, US Senator from Idaho: Securing Freedom Worldwide Issue Briefing
http://craig.senate.gov/i_freedom.htm