An experiment using MAC OS X Summary service --Bush Wins; House Leaves Patriot Act As Is

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: John Wittig <wittigjr () gmail com>
Date: July 9, 2004 8:57:32 AM EDT
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Bush Wins; House Leaves Patriot Act As Is

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20040708/ap_on_go_co/ 
congress_patriot_act

By ALAN FRAM, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON - The Republican-led House bowed to a White House veto  
threat Thursday and stood by the USA Patriot Act, defeating an effort  
to block the part of the anti-terrorism law that helps the government  
investigate people's reading habits.

...The amendment appeared on its way to victory as the roll call's  
normal 15-minute time limit expired, but GOP leaders kept the vote open  
for 23 more minutes as they persuaded about 10 Republicans who  
initially supported the provision to change their votes.

...The tactic was reminiscent of last year's House passage of the  
Medicare overhaul measure, when GOP leaders held the vote open for an  
extra three hours until they got the votes they needed.

...Rep. Zach Wamp, R-Tenn., said he switched his initial "yes" vote to  
"no" after being shown Justice Department (news - web sites) documents  
asserting that terrorists have communicated over the Internet via  
public library computers.

...The House has voted before to block portions of the nearly  
three-year-old law, but Congress has never succeeded in rolling back  
any of it.

..."I would say, in my judgment, that lives have been saved, terrorists  
have been disrupted, and our country is safer" because of the act, said  
Rep. Porter Goss, R-Fla., chairman of the House Intelligence Committee  
and a man President Bush (news - web sites) is considering to be the  
next director of the Central Intelligence Agency (news - web sites).

Otter and Rep. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., led the effort to block one  
section of the law that lets authorities get special court orders  
requiring book dealers, libraries and others to surrender records such  
as purchases and Internet sites visited on a library computer.

...The House voted last summer to block so-called "sneak and peek"  
searches the law allows without the target's knowledge and with  
warrants delivered afterward, but the provision never became law.

...Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., read a letter from the Justice Department  
stating that "as recently as this past winter and spring, a member of a  
terrorist group closely affiliated with al-Qaida" had used Internet  
services at a public library.

..."If we can stop what took place in my area," said Wolf, whose  
district is near the Pentagon (news - web sites), a Sept. 11 target,  
"then I want to stop that, because we've gone to enough funerals."

-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com
To manage your subscription, go to
 http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/