ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline Volume 14, Number 98 September 29, 2005 In This Issue: [1] Last Chance for PATRIOT Action! [2] Durbin Thanks Librarians [1] Last Chance for PATRIOT Action! The next few days present what is very likely your last opportunity to have an impact on the final language of the PATRIOT Act reauthorization. We understand that Republican staff may have started private meetings on the bill that will come out of the PATRIOT Act conference. The meetings among the Members may not happen until the 2nd week in October, but the deal could well be in place before then. We are writing to you one last time on these reauthorization bills to urge you to call your Members and ask them to sign the "Dear Conferee" letters being circulated in the House and in the Senate. Librarians' grassroots efforts have made an enormous difference during this process – thank you in advance for helping us during the final push. BACKGROUND: The House and Senate have each passed a PATRIOT Act reauthorization bill. ALA supports the Senate version of the bill (S.1389) because it would eliminate the danger of fishing expeditions in bookstores and library records by placing safeguards on the search of the records of suspected terrorists. Further, the Senate bill would require public disclosure of the number of bookstore and library searches made by law enforcement officials under Section 215. For further information on the provisions of direct concern to librarians and the reading public, go to http://www.ala.org/ala/washoff/WOissues/civilliberties/privacy/pri vacyrelated.htm ACTION: Senators Craig and Durbin and Representatives Sanders and Otter are circulating "Dear Conferee" letters in their respective chambers. Both letters ask the conferees to support the Senate bill (S. 1389). If your Senators do NOT appear on the list of Senators who have signed the letter, please contact them to ask them to sign the "Dear Conferee" letter circulated by Senators Craig and Durbin. (To sign on - or if they have questions - they can contact Brooke Roberts in Senator Craig's office at 202-224-1013 or Joseph Zogby in Senator Durbin's office at 202-224-2152.): Senators who have signed the Dear Conferee Letter (In alphabetical order) Sens. Baucus, Biden, Bingaman, Byrd, Cantwell, Clinton, Corzine, Craig, Dodd, Durbin, Feingold, Feinstein, Harkin, Kerry, Kohl, Lautenberg, Mikulski, Murkowski, Reid, Salazar, Schumer, Sununu, and Wyden. If your Representatives do NOT appear on the list below, please contact them to urge them to sign the "Dear Conferee" letter circulated by Reps Sanders and Otter. (To sign on - or if they have questions - they can contact Rebecca Raiser in Rep. Sanders' office at 202- 225-4115): Representatives who have signed the Dear Conferee letter (In alphabetical order): Reps. Abercrombie, Allen, Andrews Reps. Baca, Baird, Baldwin, Bartlett, Becerra, Berkley, Berman, Bishop, Blumenauer, Boucher, Brown, Butterfield Reps. Capuano, Carnahan, Carson, Case, Christensen, Clay, Cleaver, Costello, Crowley, Cummings Reps. Davis, DeFazio, DeGette, DeLauro, Dicks, Dingell, Doggett Reps. Ehlers, Emanuel, Engel, Eshoo, Evans Reps. Farr, Filner, Frank Reps. Gonzalez, Green, Greave, Gutierrez Reps. Harman, Hastings, Herseth, Higgins, Hinchey, Holt, Honda, Hooley Reps. Inslee, Israel Reps. Jackson Jr., Johnson Reps. Kennedy, Kildee, Kilpatrick, Kind, Kucinich Reps. Langevin, Lantos, Larsen, Larson, Lee, Levin, Lewis, Lofgren, Lois Capps, Lowey Reps. Mack, Maloney, Manzullo, Markey, Matheson, Matsui, McCarthy, McCollum, McDermott, McGovern, McNulty, Meehan, Menendez, Millender-McDonald, Miller, Moore (Gwen), Moore (Dennis), Moran Reps. Nadler, Ney Reps. Oberstar, Olver, Otter, Owens Reps. Pallone, Pastor, Paul, Payne, Peterson, Price Reps. Reyes, Rothman, Roybal-Allard Reps. Sabo, Salazar, Sanchez, Sanders, Schakowsky, Schiff Schwartz, Scott, Serrano, Sherman, Slaughter, Smith, Solis, Stark Reps. Tauscher, Thompson, Tierney, Towns Reps. Udall, Tom, Udall, Mark Reps. Van Hollen, Velázquez Reps. Wasserman Schultz, Waters, Watson, Waxman, Weiner, Wexler, Woolsey, Wu Wynn If your Members ARE on these lists, be sure to write to them and thank them. Thank you again for your continued work on this important issue. [2] Senator Durbin Thanks Librarians From the Congressional Record: September 28, 2005 (Senate) Page S10582-S10583 NATIONAL SECURITY LETTERS AND PATRIOT ACT REAUTHORIZATION Mr. DURBIN. Mr. President, the USA PATRIOT Act greatly expanded the Government's authority to use national security letters, documents issued by FBI agents without judicial or grand jury approval that allow the Government to obtain sensitive information about innocent American citizens. The recipient of a national security letter is subject to a permanent automatic gag order. The Justice Department claims that they are not interested in the library records of innocent Americans. However, they acknowledge that they do not know how often FBI agents have obtained library records since enactment of the PATRIOT Act. And just 3 weeks ago, the Justice Department again refused my request to make public the number of national security letters that FBI agents have issued since the PATRIOT Act became law. As a result, the American people have no idea how often the FBI is using this controversial power to obtain their sensitive personal records, including library records. I commend our Nation's librarians for defending our Constitution and leading the fight to reform the PATRIOT Act. Unfortunately in the past this Justice Department has criticized librarians for exercising their first amendment rights. Now they have gone even further--preventing a librarian from speaking publicly about a legal challenge to the national security letter power. In our democracy, the government is supposed to be open and accountable to the people and the people have a right to keep their personal lives private, This Justice Department seems to want to reverse this order, keeping their activity secret and prying into the private lives of innocent American citizens. The President has asked Congress to reauthorize the PATRIOT Act. In order to have a fully informed public debate, the American people should know how often the national security letter authority has been used and they should be able to hear from librarians and others who are concerned about this power. ****** ALAWON (ISSN 1069-7799) is a free, irregular publication of the American Library Association Washington Office. All materials subject to copyright by the American Library Association may be reprinted or redistributed for noncommercial purposes with appropriate credits. To subscribe to ALAWON, send the message: subscribe ala-wo [your_firstname] [your_lastname] to listproc@ala.org or go to http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. To unsubscribe to ALAWON, send the message: unsubscribe ala-wo to listproc@ala.org. ALAWON archives at http://www.ala.org/washoff/alawon. 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