|
WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 24, 2001
SPECIAL ALERT
DISASTER ON THE HILL
HOUSE PASSES H.R. 3162,
THE NEW ANTI-TERRORISM BILL,
SENATE SLATED TO VOTE TOMORROW
WITH NO AMENDMENTS
What happened today:
In the House:
As expected, this morning the House passed H.R. 3162, the terrifying so called
anti terror bill, by a vote of 357 to 66 without further debate.
In the Senate:
This evening around 8:00 p.m. ET, the Senate agreed to consider H.R. 3162
tomorrow under an order that provides for five hours, ten minutes of debate on
H.R. 3162 tomorrow morning starting at 10:00 a.m. Eastern Time under an order
which forbids floor amendments except for one motion to recommit.
What does it mean?
This is very, very bad news because of the part of the order which forbids
floor amendments. If the Senate had agreed to amendments on the floor, then
there would be a chance to produce a bill that wasn’t identical to the bill
passed in the House today and we would still have had a chance to conference
our way into a better result.
If the Senate passes the bill late tomorrow without amendment which is highly
likely, both bills will match and the final result will be passed on to the
president this week who will sign the bill. The only slim chance remaining, is
if enough senators agree to recommit, then we will still have a chance to push
for a better bill. However, given the current mood of the Senate, this is
unlikely.
As it is, in all probability, our only chance to save the Bill of Rights will
be a successful challenge in the Supreme Court.
What to do now:
Although the odds aren’t very good, it is still worthwhile to e-mail both
senators and complain about the process. The Supreme Court has on occasion
invalidated legislation based on lack of a truely deliberative process as well
as unconstitutional content. Thus our only chance here is either to persuade
enough senators to vote yes on a motion to recommit or to persuade enough
senators to complain about the process here to make the record necessary to
support a later challenge in the Supreme Court.
So, tell them, any piece of legislation this far reaching should have been
proceeded by real hearings, real debate, and real deliberation, none of which
was present here.
Tell them:
• Vote yes on the motion to recommit.
• Breaking down the Bill of Rights without proper hearings, due deliberation
and proper debate violates your oath of office. Say so on the floor!
• We know you are still reeling from the shock of Sept, 11th, so are we. We
know you are hearing scary briefings almost everyday that this administration
won’t share with us; we don’t feel any safer than you do just because we
can’t hear those briefings. We know you are afraid just to open the mail, so
are we; but to give away the Bill of Rights and over two hundred years of
liberty just because you are afraid makes cowards and fools of us all, and we
will not forgive you!
• Tell them to remember Benjamin Franklin who said: those who give up any
part of liberty for security deserve neither liberty nor security; [Because
history shows, without liberty there can be no security.]
| 
email Jacq'