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Stephen Colbert on the Spyvate Sector: Satirist, Stephen Colbert, discusses the private companies that pick up where the PATRIOT Act lets off


ACLU

ACLU’s Reform the Patriot Act website

ACLU Report: Reclaiming Patriotism: A Call to Reconsider the Patriot Act

Proponents on both sides of the Patriot Act reauthorization battle will have to wait until 2010 for a resolution. On Dec. 16, 2009, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) rejected the Senate plan to include the Patriot Act surveillance provisions with a defense spending bill. Instead the House voted for a 60-day extension of the three expiring provisions.  The additional time will be used to iron out the differences between the Senate and House versions of the new law. Lawmakers and civil liberty advocates are hopeful that the extension will result in curtailing of some of the broad authorities granted by the existing law.

Both the House and the Senate Judiciary committees have passed new versions of the expiring provisions, but the two chambers have yet to reach a final agreement.  The Senate’s version would reauthorize all of the powers. The House version would reauthorize the records and “roving wiretap” provisions, and not the “lone wolf” power, which lets the government track people who might be working on behalf of foreign governments. The “lone wolf” power has never been used by the government. More information about both versions is available at OMB Watch.

“A lot of people don’t want to extend it without giving (the Patriot Act) a good scrubbing. A lot of guys on Judiciary want a full debate on it,” said Anthony Weiner (D-NY).

Acting Director of the American Civil Liberties Union Washington Legislative Office Michael Macleod-Ball said, “Upon the House’s return next year, we urge them to debate and vote on the USA Patriot Amendments Act, a bill that goes much further in protecting Americans’ civil liberties than its counterparts in the Senate. We genuinely hope that Congress will use the next two months wisely for the kind of vigorous debate Americans’ privacy deserves.”