Feingold’s Opening Statement on PATRIOT Reauthorization
His statement–as prepared–is below. Note, in particular, that the substitute bill dumped last night takes out oversight on the Section 215 that was originally in Leahy’s bill.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. When Congress reconsidered the sunsetting provisions of the Patriot Act reauthorization four years ago, I was unable to support the final reauthorization package because I did not believe that it contained adequate oversight and safeguards for some very intrusive surveillance powers.
But I have to acknowledge that Congress did some things right back in 2005 and 2006. First and most importantly, it included new sunsets for three provisions, which is why we are here today. Although it is my preference to pass the right law in the first place, sunsets at least require us to reconsider laws that are controversial or have been passed in haste, as the original Patriot Act was.
Second, during the 2005 reauthorization process, Congress looked at the list of sunsetting provisions and recognized that there were other controversial surveillance laws that had been broadened or codified by the Patriot Act that did not sunset, but that were nonetheless worthy of attention. So Congress did not limit its reconsideration to the sunsetting provisions. It also took up ‘sneak and peek’ criminal search warrants and National Security Letters, neither of which was subject to a sunset. I believe Congress should similarly take a comprehensive approach to the reauthorization process this year, and should take this opportunity to revisit not just the three expiring provisions, but rather a broad range of surveillance laws enacted in recent years to assess what additional safeguards are needed.
Finally, Mr. Chairman, as you well know, early during the reauthorization process in 2005 the members of this committee were able to reach a compromise and report out a bill 18 to zero. It was a difficult negotiation and the bill was far from perfect, but it included enough privacy protections that I was able to support it. That bill went on to pass the Senate by unanimous consent. During the conference process, key elements of that carefully negotiated package were removed. But that 2005 Senate bill nonetheless proved that unanimous bipartisan agreement is possible on these complex issues.