[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 152 (2006), Part 1]
[Senate]
[Pages 746-747]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       USA PATRIOT ACT EXTENSION

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Under the previous order, the clerk will 
report H.R. 4659.
  The legislative clerk read as follows:

       A bill (H.R. 4659) to amend the USA PATRIOT Act to extend 
     the sunset of certain provisions of such Act.

  The PRESIDING OFFICER. There are now 10 minutes equally divided for 
debate. Who yields time?
  The Senator from Vermont.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, the Republican leadership of the House and 
the Senate has proposed a second extension of the PATRIOT Act to last 
another 5 weeks until March 10. I support that. I support it because it 
is basically what Senator Sununu and I proposed in December in the 
bipartisan S. 2082, cosponsored by 47 Senators from both sides of the 
aisle. I hope this will allow us to make the final improvements 
necessary so that the final PATRIOT Act can be passed.
  I support H.R. 4659, a bill by Chairman Sensenbrenner. I hope all 
Senators from both sides of the aisle will. I say this because--
notwithstanding the fact that the Senate doesn't even have a modicum of 
order, I would note, I am prepared to yield back the rest of my time if 
the place would just hush a tiny bit--it is a vital debate. The 
terrorist threat to American security is very real. It is vital that we 
have the tools to protect American security. That is why I coauthored 
the PATRIOT Act 5 years ago. That is why it passed with broad 
bipartisan support. I didn't believe it was a perfect piece of 
legislation, but I thought it was a good piece of legislation.
  And then the Republican leader in the House, Dick Armey, and I put 
certain sunset provisions in it so that we would actually look at this 
again. I think we have done that. We are close to having a final 
product. After all, our Nation is a democracy. It is based on the 
principles of a balanced government, which requires something that we 
have not seen enough of lately--checks and balances. We can do that in 
this act.
  I noted earlier this week that I was concerned that the Republican 
congressional leadership had not even proposed to the Senate Democratic 
leadership or to that of the Judiciary Committee that action be taken 
to ensure that certain sunsetting provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act not 
be allowed simply to expire at the end of this week. Thereafter, action 
was finally considered. Yesterday the House passed a bill to extend the 
sunsetting provisions until March 10, 2006. I support H.R. 4659, 
Chairman Sensenbrenner's bill.
  Those of us working constructively and in a bipartisan way to extend 
the USA PATRIOT Act with improvements have repeatedly offered to meet 
to work out the remaining differences. Regrettably, the Senate 
leadership has not made the effort to work through the remaining 
concerns or to bring us together. I was concerned because as recently 
as last week leading Republicans were indicating that they opposed 
another short-term extension that could be used to work out 
improvements that can lead to longer term Senate reauthorization.
  I was concerned that the demagoguery we had witnessed from the White 
House and House Republicans would be repeated, but that this time it 
would have real consequences. Last December, even though a majority of 
Senators--Republicans and Democrats, those who voted against cloture on 
the conference report that failed to pass the Senate and those who 
voted for it urged the Republican leader to act on a short-term, 3-
month extension before the end of the last session. At that time the 
President had said that he would not approve a short-term extension, 
and House Republicans had said that they would not allow a short-term 
extension. Those who threatened to let it expire were playing a 
dangerous political game. Fortunately, common sense prevailed, and in 
the waning days of the last session, just before adjournment for 
Christmas, the House approved a short-term extension until February 3, 
and the President reversed his earlier position and signed it into law.
  Now the Republican leadership of the House and Senate is proposing a 
second extension that will last for another 5 weeks, until March 10. 
That is in line with the initial bipartisan proposal that Senator 
Sununu and I made in S. 2082, back on December 12, that came to be 
cosponsored by 47 Senators. It is my hope that this will allow us the 
opportunity to work out improvements to the reauthorization legislation 
to better protect the liberties and rights of ordinary Americans. We 
should do our best to get it right for all Americans.
  I have continued meeting and talking with interested Republican and 
Democratic Senators. Senate staff has finally gotten together this week 
in a bipartisan meeting. I have joined in a bipartisan request to the 
majority leader that he bring together key interested Senators to work 
out a bipartisan compromise that improves the failed conference report.
  Contrary to the false claims and misrepresentations by some, there 
was no effort on either side of the aisle to do away with the PATRIOT 
Act. That is simply and profoundly not true. Along with others in the 
Senate, I am seeking to mend and extend the PATRIOT Act, not to end it. 
There is no reason why the American people cannot have a PATRIOT Act 
that is both effective and that adequately protects their rights and 
their privacy. The only people who ever threatened an expiration of the 
PATRIOT Act were the President and House Republicans. As I noted on 
December 21, the administration and the Republican congressional 
leadership were those who were objecting to extending the act and 
threatening its expiration. That was wrong. That made no sense. They 
came to their senses in the days that followed.
  In his State of the Union speech this week the President said only 
that reauthorizing the PATRIOT Act was needed to provide the same tools 
we provide to law enforcement authorities to fight drug trafficking and 
organized crime. I have worked with others to provide additional tools 
in the fight against terrorism. With others on both sides of the aisle, 
I also want to protect the liberties of ordinary and law-abiding 
Americans from overreaching and unchecked Government intrusion. 
Permanent gag orders and conclusive presumptions in favor of the 
Government, when intrusive demands for library records or personal 
medical records are being made by agents without court approval, smack 
of a police state, not the United States.
  Republican and Democratic Senators joined together last month to say 
we can do better to protect Americans' liberties while ensuring that 
our national security is as strong as it can be. In the days after 9/
11, the Senate Democratic majority joined with Republicans and the 
administration in bipartisan action. Unfortunately, the President's 
political adviser Karl Rove and other Republican partisans have sought 
to make the PATRIOT Act a partisan issue. I urge them, instead, to join 
with our bipartisan coalition and work with us to provide a better 
balance to protect the rights of ordinary Americans.
  Every single Senator--Republican and Democratic--voted last July to 
mend and extend the PATRIOT Act. That bipartisan solution was cast 
aside by the Bush administration and Republican congressional leaders 
when they hijacked the conference report, rewrote the bill in ways that 
fell short in protecting basic civil liberties, and then tried to ram 
it through Congress as an all-or-nothing proposition. I have joined 
with Senators of both parties in an effort to work to improve the bill. 
Some of us are working hard to protect the security and liberty of 
Americans. What is wrong is for the White House to seek to manipulate 
this into a partisan fight for its partisan political advantage. 
Instead of playing partisan politics, the Bush administration and 
Republican congressional leadership

[[Page 747]]

should join in trying to improve the law. Especially when security and 
liberty are at issue, why not make the extra effort to produce a 
consensus bill that can deserve the confidence of the American people?
  This is a vital debate. The terrorist threat to America's security is 
very real, and it is vital that we be armed with the tools needed to 
protect Americans' security. At the same time, the threat to civil 
liberties is also very real in America today. The question is not 
whether the Government should have the tools it needs to protect the 
American people. Of course it should. That is why I coauthored the 
PATRIOT Act 5 years ago, and that is why that act passed with broad 
bipartisan support. When I voted for the PATRIOT Act, I did not think 
it was an ideal piece of legislation, and I knew that it would need 
careful oversight and, in due course, reform. This is about how to 
reconcile two fundamental goals--ensuring the safety of the American 
people and protecting their liberty by means of a system of checks and 
balances that keeps the Government--their Government--accountable. 
Those goals should not be the goals of any particular party or 
ideology, they are shared American goals.
  Our Nation is a democracy, founded on the principles of balanced 
government. We need to restore checks and balances in this country to 
protect us all and all that we hold dear. Our Congress and our courts 
provide checks on the abuse of executive authority and should protect 
our liberties. We need to write the law so that Congress has provided 
its check in the law and so that courts can play their role, as well. 
All Americans need to take notice and demand that their liberties and 
security be properly and effectively maintained.
  I see the senior Senator, my good friend from Pennsylvania, on the 
floor. I will yield back the rest of my time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The Senator from Pennsylvania is recognized.
  Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, first, I ask for the yeas and nays.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second? There is a 
sufficient second.
  The yeas and nays were ordered.
  Mr. SPECTER. Mr. President, we need the PATRIOT Act. I am prepared to 
work on it further to improve it. I support the bill, and I yield back 
4 minutes 45 seconds of my 5 minutes.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The question is on third reading and passage 
of the bill.
  The bill (H.R. 4659) was ordered to a third reading and was read the 
third time.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. The yeas and nays have been ordered, and the 
clerk will call the roll.
  The legislative clerk called the roll.
  Mr. McCONNELL. The following Senators were necessarily absent: the 
Senator from New Mexico (Mr. Domenici), the Senator from Wyoming (Mr. 
Thomas), and the Senator from Mississippi (Mr. Lott).
  Mr. DURBIN. I announce that the Senator from New Mexico (Mr. 
Bingaman) is necessarily absent.
  The PRESIDING OFFICER. Are there any other Senators in the Chamber 
desiring to vote?
  The result was announced--yeas 95, nays 1, as follows:

                      [Rollcall Vote No. 11 Leg.]

                                YEAS--95

     Akaka
     Alexander
     Allard
     Allen
     Baucus
     Bayh
     Bennett
     Biden
     Bond
     Boxer
     Brownback
     Bunning
     Burns
     Burr
     Byrd
     Cantwell
     Carper
     Chafee
     Chambliss
     Clinton
     Coburn
     Cochran
     Coleman
     Collins
     Conrad
     Cornyn
     Craig
     Crapo
     Dayton
     DeMint
     DeWine
     Dodd
     Dole
     Dorgan
     Durbin
     Ensign
     Enzi
     Feinstein
     Frist
     Graham
     Grassley
     Gregg
     Hagel
     Harkin
     Hatch
     Hutchison
     Inhofe
     Inouye
     Isakson
     Jeffords
     Johnson
     Kennedy
     Kerry
     Kohl
     Kyl
     Landrieu
     Lautenberg
     Leahy
     Levin
     Lieberman
     Lincoln
     Lugar
     Martinez
     McCain
     McConnell
     Menendez
     Mikulski
     Murkowski
     Murray
     Nelson (FL)
     Nelson (NE)
     Obama
     Pryor
     Reed
     Reid
     Roberts
     Rockefeller
     Salazar
     Santorum
     Sarbanes
     Schumer
     Sessions
     Shelby
     Smith
     Snowe
     Specter
     Stabenow
     Stevens
     Sununu
     Talent
     Thune
     Vitter
     Voinovich
     Warner
     Wyden

                                NAYS--1

       
     Feingold
       

                             NOT VOTING--4

     Bingaman
     Domenici
     Lott
     Thomas
  The bill (H.R. 4659) was passed.
  Mr. FRIST. I move to reconsider the vote, and I move to lay that 
motion on the table.
  The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.

                          ____________________