Patriot Act Rollback Fails

By only one vote, an effort to roll back Section 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act failed July 8 in the House of Representatives, after eight Republicans switched their votes. The House deadlocked, 210–210, which, according to House rules, is a defeat. The Freedom To Read Amendment was sponsored by Rep. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and others; it would have restored the rules on searches for records at libraries and bookstores to pre–Patriot Act standards. The American Library Association (ALA) noted that four initial cosponsors of the amendment voted "no" while one voted "present"—an abstention.

The split in the House in a way indicated progress; ALA officials had said two weeks earlier that the measure was unlikely to pass. House Democrats accused Republicans of "vote-rigging" when they held the balloting open for 23 minutes longer than usual to get those eight Republicans to switch votes. The amendment was attached to a spending bill. Advisors to President Bush had said they would recommend a veto if the amendment passed. On the day of the vote, the Justice Department sent a letter, read on the floor by Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA), that said that "as recently as this past winter and spring, a member of a terrorist group closely affiliated with al-Qaida" had used Internet services at a public library. The letter did not offer any other details, nor did it specify under what authority the department obtained the information, ALA noted. According to Congress Daily AM, at least three representatives cited the letter in switching their votes from "yes" to "no."