Leahy To File Bipartisan Amendment To PATRIOT Act Extension Bill

Leahy To File Bipartisan Amendment To PATRIOT Act Extension Bill

WASHINGTON (Monday, May 23, 2011) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) will file an amendment later today to legislation pending before the Senate that will extend expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act until June 1, 2015. The Leahy-authored amendment will be cosponsored by Kentucky Republican Rand Paul and others, and closely tracks legislation Leahy introduced earlier this year. That bill won approval by a bipartisan majority of the Senate Judiciary Committee in March.

The three expiring provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act include roving wiretaps, the “lone wolf” measure, and section 215 orders for tangible things, commonly referred to as the “library records” provision. The authorities were originally set to expire in December 2009. Leahy first proposed legislation to reauthorize the intelligence-gathering tools in September 2009. The bill won bipartisan support in the Senate Judiciary Committee in 2009, and was backed by the Obama administration, the Attorney General, and the Director of National Intelligence.

In January, Leahy reintroduced the USA PATRIOT Act Sunset Extension Act, which mirrored the legislation first proposed in 2009. That bill, too, received bipartisan support from members of the Judiciary Committee.

After a series of short-term extensions, the authorities are now set to expire on Friday, May 27. The Senate will vote tonight on a procedural motion to begin debate on legislation offered by the Senate majority and minority leaders to provide a straight extension of the authorities until June 1, 2015, more than five years after the original expiration date, and nine years after legislative improvements to the original USA PATRIOT Act were last enacted. The bill, however, makes no additional improvements to the law.

The text of the Leahy-Paul amendment is available online.

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