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Court Security Legislation Unanimously Passes Senate
Congress Daily
April 20, 2007
The Senate overwhelmingly approved legislation Thursday authorizing the spending of $179 million over the next four years to improve protection of judges and upgrade security in the nation's courthouses.
Senators voted 97-0 to clear the bill after Sen. Tom Coburn, R-Okla., agreed to lift his hold on it. While insisting all the while that he supported the bill, Coburn delayed its passage for two days to protest its failure to provide an offset for the $179 million.
Much of the funding would go for hiring additional U.S. marshals assigned to protecting judges. The rest would be spent on state and local witness and victim protection programs.
The bill also would increase penalties for threatening and harassing judges and exempt them from including some personal information -- such as home addresses and names of family members -- on their financial disclosure forms.
The main impetus for the legislation was the 2005 murder of the mother and husband of U.S. District Judge Joan Lefkow in their home.
Senate Majority Leader Reid had promised to hold a cloture vote Friday to break Coburn's hold on the measure and threatened to keep the Senate in session over the weekend to finish action on the measure.
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