The 98-1 Patriot Act
Congressional Record: October 25, 2001 (Senate)
Page S10990-S11060
“The PRESIDENT pro tempore. Under the previous order, the Senate will
now proceed to consideration of H.R. 3162, which the clerk will report.
The bill clerk read as follows:
A bill (H.R. 3162) to deter and punish terrorist acts in
the United States and around the world, to enhance law
enforcement investigatory tools, and for other purposes.
The PRESIDENT pro tempore. The senior Senator from Vermont, Mr.
Leahy, is recognized.
(Debate ensues and is redacted here.)
Mr. LEAHY. Mr. President, I thank the distinguished senior Senator
from Utah for his comments. Senator Hatch and I, over the last
generation, have spent a great deal of time with each other on a many
issues, on numerous committees, especially the Judiciary Committee. But
we have spent so much time together on this, we even appear to be
coordinating wardrobes with gray suits and blue shirts today. But I
appreciate his help.
I appreciate so many who helped on crafting and moving forward with
this legislation. I thank our leader, Senator Daschle. It would have
been impossible for us to be here at this point without his steadfast
commitment to the committee system and his willingness to have the
committee work diligently to improve the legislation initially
presented by the Administration. On my behalf and on behalf of the
American people, I want to publicly acknowledge his vital role in this
legislation. Senator Reid has also provided valuable counsel and
assistance as we have moved first the original Senate USA Act, S. 1510,
and now the House-passed bill, H.R. 3162.
Many others also helped us: Senator Hatch and Senator Specter and
Senator Grassley and Senator Durbin, Senator Schumer, Senator Cantwell,
and so many others on the Judiciary committee.
I said many times we are merely constitutional impediments to staff.
In particular, I want to thank Mark Childress and Andrea LaRue on the
staff of Majority Leader Daschle, and David Hoppe on the staff of
Republican Leader Lott. I would also like to thank Markan Delrahim,
Jeff Taylor, Stuart Nash, and Leah Belaire with Senator Hatch, the
ranking member of the Judiciary Committee, Melody Barnes and Esther
Olavarria with Senator Kennedy, Neil McBride, and Eric Rosen with
Senator Biden, Bob Schiff with Senator Feingold, and Stacy Baird and
Beth Stein with Senator Cantwell. I also want to thank Bill Jensen of
the Legislative Counsel’s office.
Finally, I would like to thank my own Judiciary Committee staff,
especially Bruce Cohen, Beryl Howell, Julie Katzman, Ed Pagano, John
Elliff, David James, Ed Barron, Tim Lynch, Susan Davies, Liz McMahon,
Manu Bhardwaj, and Tara Magner. These are people who are more than just
accomplished Senate staffs, they are close personal friends.
I think of the way they have worked, also, with personal office staff
such as Luke Albee, J.P. Dowd, David Carle, and others. These are dear
friends, but they are also people who bring such enormous expertise–
expertise they had in their other careers before they came to the
Senate, and how helpful this is.
Mr. President, we are about to vote and we will vote in a matter of
minutes. I want us to think just for a moment why we are here. We have
all
[[Page S11059]]
shared the sadness, the horror of September 11. We are seeing Members
of Congress and staffs threatened, tragic deaths in the Postal Service,
those who died in the Pentagon, those who died at the Twin Towers.
It is also almost a cliche to say America under attack, but that is
what it is. Each of us has a job helping to respond to that. We are not
Republicans or Democrats in that, we are Americans preserving our
Nation and preserving our democracy. But, you know, we preserve it not
just for today, we preserve it for the long run. That presents the kind
of questions we have to answer in a bill such as this.
I suspect terrorist threats against the United States will exist
after all of us, all 100 of us, are no longer serving in the Senate. It
is a fact of life. It will come from people who hate our democracy,
hate our diversity, hate our success. But that doesn’t mean we are
going to stop our democracy, our diversity, or our success.
Think what we cherish in this Nation. Our first amendment, for
example, giving us the right to speak out about what we want–as we
want. How many countries even begin to give that freedom?
Also, in that same first amendment, the right to practice any
religion we want, or none if we want.
The leaders of the Judiciary Committee, Senator Hatch and I, belong
to different religions which we hold deeply. I think we gain a great
deal of inner strength from our respective faiths. But we know we are
not judged by our religion. That is something we must protect and hold.
We are judged by how well we do in representing our States and our
Nation.
Because we face terrible terrorist attacks today, we should not
succumb tomorrow by giving up what makes us a great nation. That has
been my benchmark throughout the work I have done in this bill.
I spoke of the people who bring so much to this. I was just talking
with Beryl Howell, a brilliant lawyer, who, with Bruce Cohen, has led
our team on all this. She is a former prosecutor. How much she learned
from her prior experiences and how much she brought here. Bruce Cohen,
who was in private practice and came here, probably is as knowledgeable
about Senate practice as anybody I know of, and he has brought that
knowledge here. There are so many others I could name.
I have to think of my own case. Probably my 26 years here in the
Senate, in many ways led up to this moment because I have never brought
more of my own experiences or knowledge to bear than on this.
There was a rush, an understandable and even, some may say,
justifiable rush, to pass legislation immediately after these terrible
events. I understand that, the United States having been attacked
within our borders for the first time, really, by an outside power
since the War of 1812–attacked terribly, devastatingly. Who can forget
the pictures we saw over and over again on television?
So I can understand the rush to do something, anything. But I used
every bit of credibility I had as a Senator to say, wait, let us take
time. I applaud people such as Senator Daschle who, using his great
power as majority leader, said we will take the time to do this right,
and backed me up on this. Other Senators from both sides of the aisle
said, OK, let’s work together.
I know the Senator from Utah shared the same anger that I did at the
terrorists, and perhaps had been reluctant at first to join with me on
that. But then the Senator from Utah and I worked day and night,
weekends, evenings, and everything else to put together the best
possible bill.
We worked with our friends and our colleagues in both parties in the
other body. Ultimately, we do nothing to protect America if we pass a
bill which for short-term solutions gives us long-term pain by
destroying our Constitution or our rights as Americans.
There are tough measures in this legislation. Some may even push the
envelope to the extent that we worry. That is why we put in a 4-year
sunset. We have also built in constitutional checks and balances within
the court system and within even some of the same agencies that will be
given new enforcement powers. But we also will not forget our rights
and responsibilities and our role as U.S. Senators.
We will not forget our role and our responsibilities as Senators to
do oversight. Senator Hatch and I are committed to that. We will bring
the best people from both sides of aisle, across the political
spectrum, to conduct effective oversight.
I have notified Attorney General Ashcroft and Director Mueller that
we will do that to make sure these powers are used within the
constitutional framework to protect all of us. I said earlier on this
floor what Benjamin Franklin said: that the people who would trade
their liberties for security and deserve neither.
We will enhance our security in this bill, but we will preserve our
liberties. How could any one of us who have taken an oath of office to
protect the Constitution do otherwise?
Like the distinguished Presiding Officer, I have held different
elective offices. As the distinguished Presiding Officer knows, we take
seriously our duties and our roles in each of those. He was a Member of
the House and was the Governor of one of the original 13 States. I was
a prosecutor and am a U.S. Senator from the 14th State. But all of us
take this responsibility, because none of us are going to be here
forever.
I want to be able to look back at my time in the U.S. Senate and be
able to tell my children, my grandchildren, and my friends and
neighbors in Vermont–the State I love so much–that I came home having
done my best.
We have so much in this country–so much. But it is our rights and
our Constitution that give us everything we have, which allows us to
use the genius of so many people who come from different backgrounds
and different parts of the world. That makes us stronger. We become
weak if we cut back on those rights.
We have had some difficult times in our Nation where we have not
resisted the temptation to cut back. Here we have. The American people
will know that this Congress has worked hard to protect us with this
bill.
I will vote for this legislation knowing that we will continue to do
our duty, and to follow it carefully to make sure that these new powers
are used within our Constitution.
I suggest that all time be yielded, and that we be prepared to vote.
I ask for the yeas and nays.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. Is there a sufficient second?
There is a sufficient second.
The yeas and nays were ordered.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The clerk will read the bill for the third
time.
The bill was read the third time.
The PRESIDING OFFICER. The bill having been read the third time, the
question is, Shall the bill pass?
The clerk will call the roll.
The assistant legislative clerk called the roll.
Mr. REID. I announce that the Senator from Louisiana (Ms. Landrieu)
is necessarily absent.
The PRESIDING OFFICER (Mr. Johnson). Are there any other Senators in
the Chamber desiring to vote?
The result was announced–yeas 98, nays 1, as follows:
[Rollcall Vote No. 313 Leg.]
YEAS–98
Akaka
Allard
Allen
Baucus
Bayh
Bennett
Biden
Bingaman
Bond
Boxer
Breaux
Brownback
Bunning
Burns
Byrd
Campbell
Cantwell
Carnahan
Carper
Chafee
Cleland
Clinton
Cochran
Collins
Conrad
Corzine
Craig
Crapo
Daschle
Dayton
DeWine
Dodd
Domenici
Dorgan
Durbin
Edwards
Ensign
Enzi
Feinstein
Fitzgerald
Frist
Graham
Gramm
Grassley
Gregg
Hagel
Harkin
Hatch
Helms
Hollings
Hutchinson
Hutchison
Inhofe
Inouye
Jeffords
Johnson
Kennedy
Kerry
Kohl
Kyl
Leahy
Levin
Lieberman
Lincoln
Lott
Lugar
McCain
McConnell
Mikulski
Miller
Murkowski
Murray
Nelson (FL)
Nelson (NE)
Nickles
Reed
Reid
Roberts
Rockefeller
Santorum
Sarbanes
Schumer
Sessions
Shelby
Smith (NH)
Smith (OR)
Snowe
Specter
Stabenow
Stevens
Thomas
Thompson
Thurmond
Torricelli
Voinovich
Warner
Wellstone
Wyden
NAYS–1
Feingold
[[Page S11060]]
NOT VOTING–1
Landrieu
The bill (H.R. 3162) was passed.
Mr. COCHRAN. Mr. President, I move to reconsider the vote, and I move
to lay that motion on the table.
The motion to lay on the table was agreed to.”
Ed Koch and Peter King understand this well enough, in the NYP:
It is a war that threatens our national survival. Yet, listening to an increasingly shrill chorus of political voices, Americans could almost conclude that the real threat to our country comes not from bin Laden and al Qaeda but John Ashcroft and the Patriot Act.
Wesley Clark says the Patriot Act “essentially suspended habeas corpus.” Howard Dean calls the law “shameful” and “unconstitutional.” Dick Gephardt pledges to fire Aschroft in his “first five minutes as president.” John Kerry assures his audiences, “There will be no John Ashcroft trampling on the Bill of Rights” in a Kerry administration.
All this for a law that two years ago passed both houses overwhelmingly, with only one dissenting vote in the Senate.
For the most part, the Democratic presidential aspirants have not gone beyond applause-gathering one-liners. But former Vice President Al Gore recently delivered a detailed speech extremely critical of the Patriot Act and the motives of the Bush administration itself.
Gore accused the president and his attorney general of “constant violations of civil liberties,” “putting our country in grave and unnecessary danger” and “using the war against terrorism for partisan advantage.”
Dems: either vote against something or shut up already. Don’t vote for it and whine and wail. In this at least I sympathize with the far left Democrat websites. Take it like a man.