[Peace-discuss] Fwd: Message from Senator Barack Obama

[Morton K. Brussel]

Obama indicates he will support a filibuster to prevent the Patriot  
Act revision from becoming law.

Begin forwarded message:

> From: senator_obama at obama.senate.gov
> Date: December 12, 2005 3:29:51 PM CST
> To: mkb3 at mac.com
> Subject: Message from Senator Barack Obama
> Thank you for your letter expressing your concerns about the  
> reauthorization of the PATRIOT Act of 2001.  I appreciate hearing  
> from you.
> I do not believe the PATRIOT Act strikes the proper balance between  
> protecting Americans’ civil liberties and the need to provide law  
> enforcement with the tools necessary to fight terrorism.  The House  
> of Representatives passed its version of the reauthorization bill  
> in July.  This bill lacked the changes I believe must be made to  
> protect our civil liberties. In late summer, the Senate unanimously  
> passed its version, which placed more reasonable limits on the  
> search powers granted to authorities, and required more  
> comprehensive approval processes for certain types of warrants.   
> The Senate bill also provided four year extensions to the two most  
> controversial provisions of the Act.  The Senate bill had the  
> support of a broad array of groups, including the American Civil  
> Liberties Union and the People for the American Way.
> Currently, a conference committee of House and Senate members have  
> been negotiating the PATRIOT Act Conference Report.  The conferees  
> reached a tentative agreement on the Conference Report in mid- 
> November.  That agreement heavily favors the House's position, and  
> immediately stirred objections from both Republican and Democratic  
> Senators.
> A bi-partisan group of senators have joined together in an effort  
> to convince the conferees to reach a more reasonable agreement on  
> the final report, which cannot be amended, before it is finalized  
> and sent to both chambers for approval.   The group includes the  
> original authors of the Security and Freedom Ensured Act, or the  
> SAFE Act (S. 737), which I am proud to have cosponsored.  The SAFE  
> Act includes many of the limitations later incorporated into the  
> Senate's reauthorization bill. This group of senators has requested  
> a number of revisions to the current agreement, including tighter  
> judicial review for national security letters, a stricter legal  
> standard for seizing business records in terror investigations,  
> including those from libraries and bookstores, and expedited  
> notification after searching a home pursuant to a "sneak and peek"  
> search warrant.  The group has also asked that the conferees adopt  
> the Senate's 2009 sunsets in lieu of the 2012 expirations currently  
> in the draft.
>
> Members of this group have suggested the possibility of a  
> filibuster if the final bill does not include these revisions,  
> which reflects the seriousness with which both parties view the  
> issue. I am supportive of all efforts to prevent the current  
> tentative agreement from becoming law, and I hope the conferees  
> will come to a decision that both meets our nation's security needs  
> and protects individual civil liberties.
>
> Thank you again for writing. Please keep in touch as this debate  
> develops.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Barack Obama
> United States Senator
>
>
> P.S. Our system does not allow direct response to this email.  
> However, if you would like to contact me again, please use the form  
> on the website: http://obama.senate.gov/contact/

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