“Library patrons should be thrilled that their champion, Congressman Sanders, has finally prevailed,” said ALA Washington Office Executive Director Emily Sheketoff. “People from every political persuasion supported this amendment, and we are grateful that members of the House listened to librarians’ concerns.”
Some saw the action as a sign of growing concern over the protection of personal privacy, as well as a possible indicator of coming debate over the renewal of 16 of the act’s provisions set to expire at the end of the year. “Congress has the obligation to modify some authorities of the Patriot Act that went too far in eroding our civil liberties,” said Rep. Jane Harman (D-Calif.), who opposed Sanders’ amendment last year but voted for it this time, the San Francisco Chronicle reported June 16.
However, an aide to one House leader dismissed the vote as “the crazies on the left and the crazies on the right, meeting in the middle,” according to the June 16 Washington Post. In addition, President Bush has threatened to veto the bill if the final version contains any language that would weaken the Patriot Act, and House Appropriations Committee spokesman John Scofield suggested Republican leaders plan to remove what he called “this extraneous rider” when working out any differences between House and Senate versions of the bill.
In a June 14 letter to Congress, the Justice Department pointed out that Section 215 has been used only 35 times, and never to seek library or bookstore records. “Bookstores and libraries should not be carved out as safe havens for terrorists and spies who have, in fact, used public libraries to do research and communicate with their co-conspirators,” wrote Assistant Attorney General William E. Moschella, the New York Times reported June 16. After the vote, the DOJ issued a statement underscoring the necessity of the provision.
Sheketoff told American Libraries that although the amendment’s margin of victory indicates that lawmakers are hearing from constituents, the bill still faces a “whole lot of hurdles,” noting that in addition to the president’s promised veto and the House leadership’s plan to strip the provision, the Senate hasn’t even marked up its version of the appropriations bill. “We’ve got our work cut out for us,” she said.
Posted June 17, 2005.