THE LAW LOFT
TUESDAY, OCTOBER 23, 2001

SPECIAL ALERT

 BIZARRE SLEIGHT OF HAND
PRODUCES YET ANOTHER
ELITE CRAFTED
ANTI-TERRORISM BILL
H.R. 3162
INSTEAD OF EXPECTED CONFERENCE REPORT

WHAT HAPPENED?

         We don't know for sure. However, taking members of the House at their word, apparently instead of appointing conferees and crafting a compromise between Senate and House passed versions as the rules of the Congress require, the House and Senate leadership (2 each) along with representatives of the leaders of the House and Senate judiciary committees (2 each) along with representatives of the administration crafted yet another new anti-terrorism bill H.R. 3162 which made its debut on the floor of the House tonight.

        According to a Democratic member only two copies were circulated among the few Democrats who stayed in the House after the members were told to go home earlier in the evening. A handful of members of the House spent a little over an hour debating the bill that many complained they had not read. It is now scheduled for a vote without opportunity to amend on the floor of the House tomorrow morning.

 What's in it?:

        We don't know for sure. Taking members of the House at their word, "it's better than either of the earlier House or Senate version" but according to others not nearly good enough. The new version contains:

        • a sunset clause sunsetting (ending ) some provisions
        after four (4 ) years [that's still too long to live under
        a police state and still expect to get your freedom back];

        • still has “little to do with terrorism” but a lot to do with:

                • encouraging criminal investigations to use FISA
                (spy) courts to conduct criminal investigations
                without probable cause; 

       • still opens up FISA (the spy court)  court surveillance and
        record search provisions to general use against ordinary
            Americans who are not suspected of any criminal act
        with “wide sweeps against uninvolved persons.”

        • contains a new version of the money movement crimes

What’s next?:

 In the House:

        The House will vote on this new bill tomorrow morning [10/24] without having had the opportunity to read it and without the right to amend.

  In the Senate:

        The Senate had hit a snag due to demands by a number of Senators to amend the new bill. It is not currently on the Senate’s floor debate schedule for tomorrow. However, it could still come up in the Senate tomorrow under a suspension of the rules.

        Indeed, the plan appears to be to pass the new House version without meaningful debate. Then to pass the same new bill without meaningful Senate debate and finally to  hand the new bill on to the White House for immediate presidential signature this week. Clearly proponents will do anything, say anything to avoid the deliberative process involved in a conference committee.

  Why yet another sleight of hand?:

         We surmise that this new established procedure avoiding approach may be because public opinion is shifting against stripping away the Bill of Rights under the guise of fighting terrorism. A Los Angeles Time piece published today says although John Q. Citizen from a typical town in Ohio fully supports bombings in Afghanistan and “our president”, he/she does not support damaging American civil liberties. Hence the need for haste before members of Congress disconnected from their constituents due to the anthrax scare, figure out that their constituents no longer favor dismantling the Bill of Rights in the name of fighting terrorism.

        “Who wants it said of us, ‘we decided to defend democracy, we had to degrade it?’ ” said  one member on the floor of the House tonight. This bill has been “debated in the most undemocratic way possible. Was it really necessary to debate it with a handful of members after members were told to go home?”  He added.

 What to do next:

        Keep the pressure on!

        First thing Wednesday morning, preferably as early as possible, e-mail your Congressman and tell him/her anything this important, this major requires reading, consideration, amendment and debate. You can do it right, just take the time to do it right. Remember the goal is supposed to be stopping terrorists not dismantling the Bill of Rights.

        Next e-mail the same message to both senators.