Chris Sununu: “We introduced the SAFE Act to deal with very specific areas where we thought the PATRIOT Act needed to be improved to…”

“We introduced the SAFE Act to deal with very specific areas where we thought the PATRIOT Act needed to be improved to better protect civil liberties. Some would argue that with the PATRIOT Act, as it has been rewritten, the conference agreement, that there were only a few areas now where there is a disagreement and so we ought to accept it as it is. I make a broad argument, though, that simply because we are conducting shortcuts on civil liberties in only a few areas is simply not an effective argument. I think where civil liberties are concerned, as I illustrated with the Framers' concerns, we ought to do everything in our power to make sure proper protection is provided. A few key points about the weaknesses that remain in the PATRIOT Act, and with these weaknesses I will not be able to support the final conference report. I certainly will not support moving forward with the conference report, in part because I think these are substantive problems but also because they are problems that should be easily addressed in a reworked conference agreement. The first deals with the business and libraries provision, section 215. In section 215 we have established a very broad standard, too broad a standard, for investigators to get access to sensitive records--whether it is at a business or a library; it makes no difference. The standard is that the records simply be shown as relevant to an investigation.…”