WASHINGTON -- Russ Feingold is fighting a lonely battle for privacy in the U.S. Senate.
The 48-year-old Wisconsin Democrat is singlehandedly trying to add pro-privacy changes to an eavesdropping bill that would hand police unprecedented surveillance powers.
His stand has been causing friction with his own party: This week Feingold refused to bow to a request from Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) for an immediate vote on the complex, 243-page bill. Daschle had asked senators to agree unanimously that it was time to move onto the anti-terrorism measure that was drafted in response to the Sept. 11 attacks.
Instead, insisted the former Rhodes Scholar-turned-politico, senators should have a chance to carefully consider the USA Act (PDF) before voting on it. Said Feingold: "I can't quite understand why we can't have just a few hours of debate."
When the USA Act, which has broad support from his colleagues and the White House, goes to the Senate floor as early as midday Thursday, Feingold plans to offer four amendments to it. According to a draft, the amendments would:
- Still allow police to perform "roving wiretaps" and listen in on any telephone that a subject of an investigation might use. But they would only be permitted to eavesdrop when that person is the one using the phone.
- Preserve the privacy of sensitive records -- such as medical or educational data -- by requiring police to convince a judge that viewing them is necessary. Without that amendment, the USA Act would expand police's ability to access any type of stored or "tangible" information.
- Bar police from obtaining a court order, sneaking into a suspect's home and not notifiying that person they had been there. The "secret search" section currently is part of the USA Act -- and is something the Justice Department has wanted at least since 1999, when it unsuccessfully asked Congress for that power.
- Clarify that universities, libraries and employers may only snoop on people who use their computers in narrow circumstances. Right now, the USA Act says that system administrators may monitor anyone they deem a "computer trespasser."
Championing those amendments is a bold act for Feingold, known for his very liberal approach to cultural and foreign issues -- including his co-sponsorship of the McCain-Feingold campaign finance bill, his opposition to the Pentagon's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet jet and CVN-76 aircraft carrier, and his criticism of the death penalty. Feingold is up for re-election in 2004.
On the other side is the entire Senate leadership, which had hoped for a floor vote on the USA Act by Wednesday. Sponsors of the measure include Daschle, Minority Leader Trent Lott (R-Mississippi), Judiciary Committee chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) and Intelligence Committee chairman Bob Graham (D-Florida).
Daschle has agreed to permit votes on Feingold's amendments, but debate on the USA Act is stalled because Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) insisted that an unrelated aviation safety bill must be considered first.
Civil liberties groups have split over how to react to the impending vote on the most important wiretapping and eavesdropping bill in a generation.
The American Civil Liberties Union has taken a hard-line approach, asking its members to reject the entire bill. An alert calls the USA Act "a bill that would significantly undermine many of the freedoms that Americans hold dear."
The Electronic Frontier Foundation of San Francisco has taken a similar position, saying that "Sen. Feingold is expected to offer some amendments, but they will not address all of the concerns with this legislation."
Feingold's amendments rewrite only a tiny portion of the vast bill. Even with them, the USA Act would still allow police to conduct Internet eavesdropping without a court order in some circumstances, allow federal prosecutors to imprison non-citizens indefinitely, and extend the duration of an electronic surveillance order issued by a secret court from 90 to 120 days.
The Washington-based Center for Democracy and Technology is taking a noticeably milder approach.
CDT is not urging the activists who populate its e-mail alert lists to tell their senators to oppose the USA Act. Instead, in an alert dated late Wednesday, CDT says: "Call your senators in Washington right away and let them know that you think civil liberties should be part of the balance as we move forward to protect our country from terrorism. Urge them to support the Feingold privacy amendments."
In the House, a debate is simmering over whether its members will vote on the USA Act or another anti-terrorism bill that sets an expiration date of December 2003 for the increased eavesdropping powers. The Bush administration has opposed any time limits.
President Bush has asked Congress for the additional surveillance and detention powers as a response to the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The USA Act stands for "Uniting and Strengthening America."
