WASHINGTON -- Attempts to inject privacy safeguards into an anti-terrorism bill have been soundly rejected.
In a series of votes ending at midnight Thursday, the U.S. Senate overwhelmingly defeated the last-ditch efforts by Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin) to limit police surveillance powers.
The Senate then voted 96-1 for the unaltered USA Act (PDF), which includes the biggest eavesdropping expansion in a generation. Feingold was the lone dissenter.
Sen. Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) described Feingold's three amendments as "outdated and nonsensical." Hatch said "current law perversely gives the terrorist privacy rights.... We should not tie the hands of our law enforcement and help hackers and cyber-terrorists to get away."
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle (D-South Dakota) said the USA Act was a "delicate but successful compromise" that provided adequate protection for civil liberties. Daschle said his opposition to Feingold's amendments was "not substantative but procedural" because the Senate needed to move quickly on the legislation.
Calling this debate "one of the most important civil liberty issues of our time," Feingold reminded his colleagues that they had taken an oath to uphold the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Feingold said: "We will lose that war (on terrorism) without a shot being fired if we sacrifice the liberty of the American people."
The House is expected to vote on anti-terrorism legislation as early as Friday -- but it's unclear whether House leaders will order a vote on the USA Act or a similar bill, with a December 2003 expiration date that the House Judiciary committee approved.
President Bush lauded the vote on the USA Act, saying in a statement that the Senate has handed police "essential, additional tools to combat terrorism and safeguard America against future terrorist attacks."
During the three-hour debate, the Senate voted to table -- effectively killing -- Feingold's amendments, which would have:
- Still allowed police to perform "roving wiretaps" and listen in on any telephone that a subject of an investigation might use. But cops could only eavesdrop when the suspect is the person using the phone. The amendment was rejected, 90-7.
- Preseved 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 expands police's ability to access any type of stored or "tangible" information. The amendment was rejected, 89-8.
- Clarified 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 should be able to monitor anyone they deem a "computer trespasser." The amendment was rejected, 83-13.
- Barred 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 they unsuccessfully asked Congress for that power at the time. The amendment was not introduced. Feingold's amendments would have rewritten only a tiny portion of the vast, 243-page bill. Even if they had been added, the USA Act still allows police to conduct Internet eavesdropping without a court order in some circumstances, lets federal prosecutors imprison non-citizens for extended periods, and expands the duration of an electronic surveillance order issued by a secret court from 90 to 120 days.
Aides for Leahy and Hatch say the USA Act is a welcome improvement over what President Bush originally suggested. It expands the jurisdiction of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court, but not as much as Bush wanted; it requires warrants before voice mail can be seized; it does not permit tax return information to be shared with other federal agencies.
The handful of other senators who endorsed Feingold's amendments included Paul Wellstone (D-Minnesota), Maria Cantwell (D-Washington), and Arlen Specter (R-Pennsylvania).
Wellstone said that "there's no reason why, in the rush to pass the bill, we can't make changes."
Specter brought up the lack of usual process and the shortened schedule. "The Judiciary committee had one hearing, a very abbreviated one, on the 25th," he said. "I wrote the chairman of the Judiciary committee two letters urging hearings. There was ample time to have hearings."
Specter said the Senate leadership was "elevating procedure over substance, which is not the way you legislate."
Bush has asked Congress for the additional surveillance and detention powers as a response to the deadly Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
The USA Act stands for "Uniting and Strengthening America."
