John remains fully committed to keeping Americans safe from the ongoing threat of domestic terrorism, and the PATRIOT Act is an important tool for law enforcement in the war on terror. When John came to the Senate in 2003 it became obvious to him that the original PATRIOT Act was out of balance. Although the law contained powerful, yet important, tools needed by law enforcement to prevent terrorist attacks, it lacked essential safeguards for the privacy and civil liberty rights of law abiding Americans. John became a leading voice on Capitol Hill to improve the PATRIOT Act, the most controversial parts of which were scheduled to expire at the end of 2005.

His bipartisan work to reauthorize the measure was guided by a commitment to strike a better balance between the essential investigatory tools for law enforcement and civil liberty rights. With debate on the issue at an impasse over civil liberty concerns raised by John and other members of a bipartisan group of Senators in late 2005 and early 2006, John crafted a legislative solution that enabled both Houses of Congress to move forward on efforts to renew the anti-terrorism law. The “USA PATRIOT Act Additional Reauthorizing Amendments Act” (S. 2271), which John introduced in February 2006, reflected an agreement he and his Senate colleagues reached with the White House to include new civil liberty protections in addition to the numerous other protections the Senators included in the reauthorized PATRIOT Act.

S. 2271 addressed Section 215 and National Security Letters (NSLs) subpoena powers in the PATRIOT Act used to obtain sensitive, non-public personal information such as library, medical, and firearms transaction records. The legislation also added clarification that libraries functioning in their traditional capacity, including providing basic Internet access, are not subject to NSLs.

President Bush signed the PATRIOT Act reauthorization conference report (H.R. 3199) and John’s bill, S. 2271, into law on March 8, 2006. Moving forward, John will continue to work with his colleagues in Congress to provide responsible oversight of this key anti-terrorism law.

For more information about John’s bill and his successful efforts to improve civil liberties protections in the PATRIOT Act throughout debate on the issue, including key improvements for privacy, click here.