House Passes Patriot Act Amendments

Bye-bye sunset .... on a 257-171 vote, the House of Representatives "made permanent" 14 of 16 Patriot Act provisions due to sunset in December. HR 3199 (Rep. Sensenbrenner - WI) was introduced 7.11.2005 and passed 7.20.2005 ... very rapid process ... the bill went through three committees for hearings, markup and vote ... and a vote before the full House, all in a nine-day (seven business days) period. How your Representative voted. Sen. Roberts (R-KS) introduced S 1266 16 June, and it has not come before the Senate for a vote. Check out the full legislative process (from the Library of Congress). When they want to move quickly, they can.

See Boston Globe, International Herald Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle. Tags: Patriot Act, Politics, Terrorism