Patriot Act Expansion Fails In The House (thehill.com)

An anonymous reader write: The "Anti-terrorism Information Sharing Is Strength Act" failed in the U.S. Congress on a vote held earlier this week. "Many libertarians warned of potential privacy violations if the measure went into effect," reported The Hill, "which helped prevent it from reaching the necessary two-thirds majority to pass through the fast-track process under which it was considered." The bill would've expanded the number of crimes which would trigger the expanded investigation powers, including crimes covered by the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. "The Patriot Act should not be casually expanded," warned the House Liberty in a statement, arguing the bill would "permit the government to demand information on any American from any financial institution merely upon reasonable suspicion."
In a related story, a new campaign ad is criticizing Senator Russ Feingold for being the only Senator to vote against the original Patriot Act in October of 2001. Shipped to TV stations Thursday night, its narration begins "Islamic terrorists slaughtering innocents. And when Congress gave law enforcement the tools to keep Americans safe from international terror, only one senator voted no: Russ Feingold." After Friday's attack in Nice, Feingold's opponent attempted to reschedule the ads until a later date, but was unable to stop them from airing on at least three stations.

Comments

Party breakdown

[Anonymous Coward]

From TFA, 147 Republicans and 82 Democrats voted in favor of the expansion, and 86 Republicans and 91 Democrats voted against the expansion. So 63% of voting Republicans support expanding the Patriot Act versus 47% of voting Democrats. Please keep that in mind if you're the sort of person who believes that the Republican party supports small government and civil rights.

Note also that this only failed because it was on a fast track that requires 2/3rds majority; it almost certainly will pass eventually (with a 50%+1 majority), thanks to Republicans.

Re:Would his opponent be Ron Johnson?

[HornWumpus]

You feel the same way about the ACLUs ignoring the 2nd amendment?