FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE
Contact: Media@dcaclu.org
WASHINGTON - A conference
committee tasked to reconcile differences between House and Senate Patriot Act
bills ignored bipartisan calls to restore checks and balances on government
power and protect privacy and civil liberties, the American Civil Liberties
Union said today. The Republican-led conferees also attached several "poison
pill" measures to the must-pass legislation, unrelated to the 2001
anti-terrorism law. The House and Senate are expected to vote on the bill this
week.
The following can be attributed to Lisa
Graves, ACLU Senior Counsel for Legislative Strategy:
"The Patriot Act was bad in 2001, and
despite bipartisan calls for reform, it's still bad in 2005. Instead of
addressing the real concerns that millions of Americans have about the Patriot
Act, the Republican majority in Congress buckled to White House pressure,
stripping the bill of modest yet meaningful reforms. Congress must reject this
bill.
"Don't be fooled by some lawmakers
spinning this bill as Patriot Act reform. It’s anything but. Lawmakers have let
the administration take us from bad to worse. There's a reason why groups like
the Chamber of Commerce, American Conservative Union and American Library
Association have all come together for Patriot Act reform. The question is: Why
haven’t lawmakers listened?"
To read the ACLU's
interested person's memo on the draft conference report, go to:
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=19410&c=206
To read a summary of the ACLU's interested person's memo on the
draft conference report, go to:
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=19411&c=206
To read the
ACLU's letter to Congress on the draft conference report, go to:
http://www.aclu.org/SafeandFree/SafeandFree.cfm?ID=19412&c=206
Learn more about the ACLU’s concerns
with the Patriot Act.
