WASHINGTON — The extension of three provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act failed to pass in the House last week, but limped through this week.
On Feb. 8, 2011, the 2001 Patriot Act faced a vote in the House of Representatives. The provisions, which expire at the end of the month, were brought to the House using a parliamentary move designed for quick action on noncontroversial, or sure-thing, legislation. In order to be extended, the vote required a two-thirds majority. But, to the Republican leadership’s surprise, the extension bill failed to achieve the supermajority.
Twenty-six Republicans, many of them part of the Tea Party contingent, and 122 Democrats voted against the legislation, resulting in a final tally at 277-148. That’s just seven short of the number needed to renew the provisions until Dec. 8, as proposed.
House Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, avoided criticizing the Tea Party Republicans and instead blamed Democrats for the bill’s defeat, according to MedillontheHill.net. “We’re not going to be perfect every day,” [Boehner] said. “If the Democrats who voted for these same provisions last year would have voted for them this year, it would have passed.”
The USA PATRIOT Act, or Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism, aims to “deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory tools, and other purposes,” according to the United States Department of Treasury website.
The three provisions set to expire on Feb. 28 are: the use of roving wiretaps, government accessibility to library, business, medical and other records, and “lone wolf” surveillance, which is essentially for monitoring of suspicious individuals not working as part of known terrorist groups.
Since its inception, less than two months after the attacks on 9/11, the act has been the center of debate. Many groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Electronic Privacy Information Center (EPIC), claim some provisions of the act violate the Fourth Amendment, essentially prohibiting government against embarking on unreasonable search and seizure of a person and his property.
While most Democrats, some Republicans and civil liberties activists oppose the renewal of the provisions, the White House supports it.
Last week, after Boehner and House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., met with President Barack Obama to discuss the budget and other issues, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said he sensed that the Patriot Act provisions would be extended.
There are several ways for this to happen. The Senate has proposed three alternatives for extending the PATRIOT Act:
- One would extend the provisions until 2013 with increased judicial oversight.
- Another would extend the provisions permanently without oversight.
- And the third proposition would extend the provisions to 2013 with no oversight.
All offer a two-year extension instead of the less than one year in the House measure.
The House bill got another vote on Feb. 14, but this time under rules requiring only a simple majority for passage, and made it through. It now goes to the Senate. If the Senate goes for a three-year extension of the bill, the two chambers will have to resolve which way to go.
But one way or the other, the three provisions of the PATRIOT Act are here to stay for now.
