Update: Patriot Act extension legislation

[Patrick]

FYI:

The House Floor Schedule for Wed., Feb. 16th: http://majorityleader.gov/Floor/
Includes possible consideration of H.R. 514 (Short-term extension of
expiring PATRIOT Act provisions)

Sen. Leahy's S. 193 (The USA Patriot Act Sunset Extension Act of 2011)
is scheduled to be considered by Senate Judiciary Thurs., Feb. 17th at
10:00am (via http://thomas.loc.gov/) (2/16/11)

http://leahy.senate.gov/press/press_releases/release/?id=07cdcb01-52af-44bd-9daa-2f6b5bd8f591
Sen. Leahy's Statement on the 3-month extension that passed the Senate
on Feb. 15, 2011

http://www.aclu.org/national-security/senate-passes-short-term-extension-troublesome-patriot-act-provisions
Senate Passes Short Term Extension Of Troublesome Patriot Act
Provisions

The following can be attributed to Laura W. Murphy, director of the
American Civil Liberties Union Washington Legislative Office:

“Every day that Congress continues to push back the February
expiration deadline, the Patriot Act continues to erode one of
Americans’ most basic rights – the freedom from unwarranted government
intrusion into their privacy. If there has to be an extension of this
law, we urge Congress to use the time well to finally rein in the
pernicious impact of the intrusive provisions at stake.”

http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la-pn-0215-patriot-act-senate-20110215,0,4310410.story
Senate passes extension of Patriot Act provisions (2/15/11)

"Senate Democrats are hoping to avoid interjecting the national
security issue into the 2012 presidential campaign by sending their
bill to the Republican-led House, which earlier this week overcame
opposition from conservative lawmakers to pass an extension through
Dec. 8."

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20032133-503544.html Senate
Passes 90-Day Extension of Patriot Act (2/15/11)

"Extend it to May. It will give us time then. It's very important that
it not expire," said Senator Dianne Feinstein Chairman of the Senate
Intelligence Committee. "It gives us more time because there are three
different bills and a lot of stuff going on and you can't sort it out.
So this will give some time."
…

"The Senate is split over how to proceed on the Patriot Act extension
for the long term - a three way split. The disagreement arises over
competing issues on how long to extend the anti-terrorism surveillance
tools which expire at the end of February and how much oversight to
include."

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jT7hRIR697F-49_26T8eCVs0HXUQ?docId=e15abe90ab2b40aba25d48223d06ec87
Senate votes to extend provisions of Patriot Act (AP) (2/15/11)

“But from the inception of the Patriot Act in the days after the Sept.
11 attacks, the increased surveillance powers have been subject to
scrutiny and criticism from both conservatives and liberals who say
they violate free speech rights and rights against unwarranted
searches and seizures.”

"’We knew we were in a very emotional state’" after the attacks, said
Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. He said the provisions give the government
access to sensitive personal records such as medical, library and gun
records, and ‘can lead to government fishing expeditions that target,
unfortunately, innocent Americans.’"


-Patrick