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GOP extends roll call to twist republicans for Bush { July 9 2004 } Original Source Link: (May no longer be active)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/07/09/MNGQC7IV231.DTLhttp://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2004/07/09/MNGQC7IV231.DTL
GOP makes time for Patriot Act vote
Leaders successfully beat back challenge by extending roll call
- Edward Epstein, Chronicle Washington Bureau
Friday, July 9, 2004
Washington -- Republican House leaders, in an intense last-minute effort, pressured almost a dozen Republicans to switch their votes and save a controversial provision of the USA Patriot Act that allows the FBI to monitor people's reading, e-mail and Internet habits at public libraries.
The effort, including more than doubling the usual time for the roll call vote, generated outrage from those trying to change the library provision, who argued the House leadership again manipulated the rules to help President Bush's re-election effort.
The intense debate also provided a glimpse of the sharp battle expected in Congress next year, when the overall Patriot Act must be renewed or lapse.
Rep. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, the House's only independent and the former Socialist mayor of Burlington, had proposed an amendment to change the library provision. The White House had gone to special lengths to lobby against Sanders' amendment, announcing that Bush would veto any bill containing it. The Justice Department also sent a letter to House leaders saying that as recently as last winter and spring, FBI surveillance found a member of what was described as an al Qaeda affiliate group using a public library computer to e-mail his colleagues.
Supporters of Sanders' measure said the library section of the Patriot Act gives the federal government unprecedented and unconstitutional powers to snoop on law-abiding Americans. They said his measure would have curbed those powers, but still allow the FBI access to library records -- with the approval of a judge or grand jury as in a typical criminal case.
After some heated debate, Sanders' measure -- an amendment to a $43.5 billion Commerce, Justice and State departments appropriations bill -- gathered a winning 219-201 margin in the 435-member House as the time limit was reached for the scheduled 15-minute vote.
But the vote was continued for another 23 minutes, prompting Democrats to chant "shame, shame,'' until the final outcome was announced.
As the vote dragged on, House Majority Leader Rep. Tom DeLay, R-Texas, buttonholed GOP members to switch their votes.
His counterpart, House Minority Leader Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, raised a point of order, asking mockingly how long Republicans intended to delay the end of the vote.
In the end, Sanders' proposal failed on a tie vote, 210-210. One member, Rep. Zoe Lofgren, D-San Jose, voted present, and 14 were absent. Eighteen Republicans ultimately voted for the bill, down from the initial 29, according to the unofficial tally kept during the voting by C-SPAN.
Among the 11 Republicans who switched from yes to no were Reps. Zach Wamp of Tennessee, Tom Davis of Virginia, Jack Kingston of Georgia and Marilyn Musgrave of Colorado, according to a list provided by Pelosi's office.
One Democrat, Rep. Brad Sherman of Sherman Oaks (Los Angeles County), switched from a "no" to a "yes" vote.
"You win some, and some get stolen," Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter, R-Idaho, a sponsor with Sanders of the provision and one of Congress' more conservative members, told the Associated Press.
The GOP leadership tactic infuriated Democrats, who are still smarting from October's vote to approve the Medicare prescription drug benefit. That roll call was held open for more then three hours until votes were rounded up for passage.
As he did then, House Minority Whip Rep. Steny Hoyer, D-Md., read 1987 comments from then-Rep. Dick Cheney, R-Wyo., after Democrats then in the majority held open a roll call. Cheney called the maneuver "the most heavy- handed, arrogant abuse of power in the 10 years I've been here.''
Sanders, who generally votes with Democrats, was furious.
"I resent on behalf of the American people that the Republican leadership rigged the game. At the end of 15 minutes, we won, and it wasn't even close,'' he said.
Pelosi, who has made what she calls Republican heavy-handedness an issue in her effort to win back a Democratic majority, said the delayed vote proves her point.
"Today on the House floor, Republican leaders once again undermined democracy, this time so that the Bush administration can threaten our civil liberties. How thoroughly un-American,'' she said in a statement.
The debate over Section 215 of the Patriot Act, a sweeping law that Congress passed quickly in the days following the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, is likely to be repeated next year when the overall bill is up for renewal.
Opponents of the library section have drawn support from librarians and 332 local government bodies, including the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and the Oakland City Council, and prompted a national petition drive by bookstores.
The American Civil Liberties Union has sued to overturn the provision.
Proponents say that abolishing the provision would create a haven for terrorists in public libraries, where they could go to freely e-mail co- conspirators or research how to build weapons of mass destruction free from surveillance by the FBI.
"While we fight terrorism, we must do it in a way that does not undermine the basic constitutional rights of the American people,'' Sanders said.
"This is not an ideological issue,'' he added, pointing out that his co- sponsors included some of the House's most conservative members, such as Otter and Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, who was the Libertarian Party's presidential nominee in 1988.
"You never have to sacrifice liberty to preserve it,'' Paul told the House, saying that Section 215, which gives the FBI access to "books, records, papers, documents and other items'' when the agency gets a warrant from a special secret federal anti-terrorism court, violated the Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches.
But the act's defenders said the provision is needed. "Should terrorists be able to use taxpayer-funded library facilities without fear they will be investigated by the FBI?'' asked Rep. Howard Coble, R-N.C.
Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Conn., said the proposal denied the reality of the war on terrorism. "I have 70 constituents who lost their lives on Sept. 11. ... I'm not sure we're remembering them today,'' he said.
Sanders said his amendment would allow the FBI to use traditional warrants or subpoenas issued by a judge or grand jury to get library or bookstore records.
Lofgren, who has been a co-sponsor of Sanders' Freedom to Read Act, which he first introduced in 2002, said she voted present because his latest proposal went beyond his earlier plan. She said the amendment would have made it impossible to track anonymous users of library computers who launch cyber attacks.
She also said she wanted committee hearings on the legislation.
Even if Sanders' measure had prevailed, it faced long odds for passage. The House has altered several Patriot Act provisions, but its changes have died in the Senate.
E-mail Edward Epstein at eepstein@sfchronicle.com.
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