FC: House plans vote on anti-terrorism surveillance bill Wednesday

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

Summary: Expect a vote on Wednesday, with debate beginning soon after 10 am 
ET. The discussion on the House floor began Tuesday evening. The House is 
voting on a version of the USA Act approved by a House-Senate conference 
committee. The ACLU sent out a letter (below) Tuesday evening urging the 
House to reject the conference report. Don't hold your breath.

One version of USA Act (sometimes called PATRIOT Act), not the latest:
http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d107:H.R.2975:

Background:
http://www.wartimeliberty.com/search.pl?topic=legislation

-Declan

***********

Press release:

WASHINGTON, D.C. - House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James 
Sensenbrenner, Jr. (R-Wis.) delivered the following statement during 
tonight's House debate on anti-terrorism legislation, H.R. 3162:
"Mr. Speaker, today, we have the duty and the privilege to pass this 
historic legislation, the USA - PATRIOT Act of 2001, which was born of 
adversity and violent attack.  This landmark legislation will provide law 
enforcement and intelligence agencies additional tools that are needed to 
address the threat of terrorism and to find and prosecute terrorist criminals.
"This legislation authorizes the sharing of information between criminal 
investigators and those engaged in foreign intelligence gathering.  It 
provides for enhanced wiretap and surveillance authority, and brings the 
basic building blocks of a criminal investigation (pen registers and trap 
and trace provisions) into the twenty-first century to deal with e-mails 
and Internet communications.
"Mr. Speaker, this legislation is the result of bipartisan consultation and 
review.  A version of this legislation was passed by the House Judiciary 
Committee, 36-0.  The House then passed H.R. 2975 by a vote of 337-79.  The 
House and Senate Judiciary Committees and the bipartisan leadership began a 
process last week to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate 
bills.  This bill is the result of that process that was completed despite 
the closure of House and Senate offices due to the anthrax attack on the 
Capitol.
"The changes to the bill are few but significant.  First, the sunset 
provision in the House bill was modified to sunset in four years. 
Provisions of the original version expired after five years and the Senate 
did not have a sunset provision.  Also, the Senate bill contained revisions 
to the so-called McDade law.  This compromise version does not contain 
those changes and I agreed to review this subject in a different context.
"This bill also contains comprehensive money laundering provisions that 
will be discussed by my colleagues from the Committee on Financial 
Services.  The House bill did not contain such provisions although the 
House subsequently passed a separate bill.
"Regarding the information sharing provisions, the Senate bill permitted 
law enforcement to share grand jury material with intelligence agencies 
without notice to the Court.  The House bill permitted such sharing only 
after prior authorization to the Court.  This bill allows sharing of grand 
jury material but the Department of Justice must give notice to the Court 
after the disclosure.
"This legislation also contains a provision, found in neither the House or 
Senate version, that directs the Department of Justice to file an ex parte 
and in camera notice with the Court when the government installs on an 
Internet Service Provider a device pursuant to a lawful pen register or 
trap and trace order.  This provision's author is the esteemed Majority 
Leader, the gentleman from Texas, Mr. Armey.
"This legislation also contains a number of provisions, including 3 
authored by Rep. Hyde and 1 by Rep. Keller, which were in the House 
Judiciary Committee version of the bill but were not in the version that 
passed on the floor.  This bill also contains a number of provisions that 
have been worked out on both sides of the aisle in the Senate.
"Regarding the bill's immigration provisions, this compromise legislation 
allows the Attorney General to delegate only to the Deputy Attorney General 
the ability to certify an alien as a terrorist.  The House Judiciary 
Committee version of this legislation contained this provision but the 
Senate-passed bill did not and allowed such delegation to the Commissioner 
of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.  In addition, the compromise 
requires the Attorney General to revisit every six months the detention of 
an alien who has been certified as an alien terrorist.  The compromise also 
adds a provision authorizing the appropriation of over $36 million to 
implement as quickly as possible the Foreign Student Tracking System that 
was created in 1996.  Finally, this legislation contains important 
humanitarian relief, originally contained in the House bill but not the 
Senate, for the families of immigrants killed in the terrorist attacks of 
September 11.
"Mr. Speaker, this legislation is not perfect and the process is not one 
that all will embrace.  However, these are difficult times that require 
steadfast leadership and an expeditious response.  This legislation is 
desperately needed and the President has called on Congress to pass it 
now.  I urge all Members to support this important anti-terrorism 
legislation and reserve the balance of my time."
##30##

***********

From one person following the money laundering sections of the USA Act:

> The House is going to vote tonight on the anti-terrorism substitute which
> will include the anti-money laundering language (a concession to the
> Senate).  According to one source, the base text of the anti-money
> laundering part will be the House floor passed version of HR 3004 (which had
> been changed to conform more with the Senate version) with some 
> changes.  These sections will be dropped from the bill:
> *Making it a crime to make a false statement opening an account;
> *Sec 403 and 404 are out, allowing the Mint to print foreign money to
> foil counterfetiers; These sections will be added:
> *Senate language facilitating information sharing between agencies
> *Gramm language allowing a process for challenging asset forfeiture And 
> another addition that fudges some of the language:
> *Treasury will have 180 days to issue monitoring regulations or the
> more proscriptive Senate mandates take effect.

***********

CURRENT HOUSE FLOOR PROCEEDINGS
LEGISLATIVE DAY OF OCTOBER 23, 2001

107TH CONGRESS - FIRST SESSION
9:58  P.M. -
On motion to adjourn
Agreed to by voice vote.
The House adjourned. The next meeting is scheduled for
10:00 a.m. on October 24, 2001.

Mr. Larson (CT) moved that the House do now adjourn.

8:30  P.M. -
SPECIAL ORDER SPEECHES - The House has concluded all
anticipated legislative business and has proceeded to
Special Order speeches.
8:27  P.M. -
Pursuant to clause 8, rule XX, the Speaker postponed until
Wednesday, October 24, 2001, the roll call vote on the
motion to suspend the rules and pass
H.R. 3162,
 which was
ordered on Tuesday, October 23, 2001.

H.R. 3162:
to deter and punish terrorist acts in the United States and
around the world, to enhance law enforcement investigatory
tools, and for other purposes
At the conclusion of debate, the Yeas and Nays were
demanded and ordered. Pursuant to the provisions of clause
8, rule XX, the Chair announced that further proceedings
on the motion would be postponed.
7:15  P.M. -
DEBATE - By unanimous consent, the House proceeded with one
hour of debate on the motion to suspend the rules and pass

H.R. 3162.

Considered under suspension of the rules.

Mr. Sensenbrenner moved to suspend the rules and pass the
bill.

7:14  P.M. -
The Speaker announced that votes on suspensions, if
ordered, will be postponed until October 24.
Mr. Linder filed a report from the Committee on Rules on

H. Res. 270.

[...]

***********

ACLU Urges House To Reject Conference Report;
Decries Deeply Flawed Legislative Process FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Phil Gutis
Tuesday, October 23, 2001
202-675-2312 WASHINGTON - Decrying a deeply flawed legislative process, the 
American
Civil Liberties Union today urged the House of Representatives to reject the
conference report on the anti-terrorism bill. "This legislation is based on 
the faulty assumption that safety must come at
the expense of civil liberties," said Laura W. Murphy, Director of the ACLU
Washington National Office. "We can be safe and fight terrorism without
substantially surrendering our civil liberties." In a letter to the full 
House, which could consider the conference report as
early as tonight, Murphy said the USA Act (HR 2975) would give enormous,
unwarranted power to the executive branch unchecked by meaningful judicial
review. Most of the new powers, the ACLU said, could be used against
American citizens in counter-terrorism investigations and in routine
criminal investigations completely unrelated to terrorism. "These new and 
unchecked powers could be used against American citizens who
are not under criminal investigation, immigrants who are here within our
borders legally, and also against those whose First Amendment activities are
deemed to be threats to national security by the Attorney General," the
ACLU's letter said. With House offices closed and staff unable to access 
their papers, Murphy
said that the process that brought the conference report to the floor is
deeply flawed and an offense to the thoughtful legislative process necessary
to protect the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. "In past times of 
tragedy and fear, our government has harassed,
investigated and arrested people solely because of their race, religion,
national origin, speech or political beliefs," the ACLU said. "We must not
allow that to happen again even as we work together to protect ourselves
from future terrorist attacks." The ACLU letter to the House can be found at:
http://www.aclu.org/congress/l102301a.html Melissa Schwartz

***********




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