"Congressmen should be required to read the crap they're voting on,"
Its clear to me that you have not read the laws you are referring to, nor what the law was before the Patriot Act was passed.
The Patriot Act is far less of "new" things than things extended to cover terrorism, as opposed to organized crime, and things to cover changes in technology.
Why do Patriot Act opponents always speak in platitudes instead of knowledge-based specifics?