ALAWON: American Library Association Washington Office Newsline
Volume 14, Number 113
November 29, 2005

In This Issue: Your Action Needed in final push against 
overreaching PATRIOT measures!  

Background:
Before Thanksgiving recess, a bi-partisan group of Senators and 
Representatives refused to sign the draft PATRIOT reauthorization 
legislation, a bill that failed to adequately address any of the 
provisions the library community has fought so hard against. By 
refusing to sign the conference report and vowing to filibuster 
the legislation should that become necessary, Members of Congress 
put a stop to what would have become another hastily passed and 
seriously flawed law. 

We need your help!
We now have the opportunity to continue to spread our message to 
Members of Congress before they return to Washington. The House 
returns to DC next week and the Senate returns on December 12th. We 
expect negotiations on PATRIOT Reauthorization to resume 
immediately and we expect a possible vote by December 16th. 

Please call your Members of Congress TODAY and ask them to support 
efforts to change the language of the Patriot Act conference 
report to reflect these concerns:
1.	The current draft has 7-year sunsets-- We want a 4-year 
sunset that will make it possible to correct an abuse of 
Section 215 at an earlier date.
2.	The current draft requires that the FBI need only assert 
facts "relevant" to a general terrorist investigation to get 
an order from a secret FISA court for records. This is a 
lower and less protective standard than the Senate version of 
the bill that required the FBI to demonstrate a connection 
between the records sought and a terrorist organization or a 
suspected terrorist. We want the Senate language.
3.	The current draft does not provide a meaningful ability to 
challenge an NSL or order of the FISA court.
4.	The current draft does not provide meaningful safeguards for 
patron privacy. The Senate language is more protective.
5.	Tell the PATRIOT conferees that you want the conference 
report to reflect the points above.
6.	Thank you for supporting the civil liberties of library 
patrons.
Please forward this email to EVERYONE-- Get as many people as you 
can to be saying the same thing during this small window of 
opportunity. Call your legislator's local office and make an 
appointment to see him or her during this recess. 
Thank you for your tireless work! There is no doubt that 
grassroots efforts have been enormously important in blocking 
reauthorization of overreaching provisions of the PATRIOT Act.

House conferees: 
Andrews; Baca; Bean; Bishop (UT); Cardin; Case; Clyburn; Cubin; 
Duncan; Ehlers Emanuel; Frank; Pelosi; Delahunt; Ford; Garrett; 
Harris; Harman; Higgins; Hoekstra; Hoyer; Holt; Issa; Johnson 
(IL); Jones; Kingston; LaHood; Lantos; Leach Lewis (CA); Lipinski; 
Mack, Manzullo, Meehan; Menendez; Musgrave; Ney; Pallone; Price 
(GA); Poe; Pomeroy; Rehberg; Rohrabacher, Ruppersberger; 
Schakowsky; Schiff; Sherman; Smith (WA); Smith (NJ); Strickland; 
Schwartz(PA);Spratt; Tauscher; Weiner; Whitfield; 
Westmoreland;Young (AK);
Senate conferees: 
Bingaman; Boxer; Brownback; Byrd; Cantwell; Chafee; Coburn; 
Conrad; Corzine; Clinton; Dorgan; Gregg; Harkin;Jeffords; Johnson; 
Lautenberg; Nelson (FL); Obama; Harry Reid; Jack Reid; Salazar; 
Snowe; Voinovich; Wyden


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