Patrick Leahy: “earlier this month, I joined with a majority of Senators in voting to proceed to consideration of S. 2271. I said then…”

“earlier this month, I joined with a majority of Senators in voting to proceed to consideration of S. 2271. I said then that the bill made modest improvements over both the original PATRIOT Act and the reauthorization proposal produced by the House-Senate conference. I said, too, that the bill included one set of changes that I strongly opposed, and that I hoped there would be an opportunity to make further improvements to the bill, the conference report, and the PATRIOT Act. Regrettably, no sooner had the Senate voted to proceed to S. 2271 than the majority leader filled the amendment ``tree'' with sham amendments, locking out real amendments that sought to improve the law further. An amendment that I filed but was denied the opportunity to offer would have corrected one of the most egregious ``police state'' provisions regarding gag orders. Senator Feingold also filed but could not offer amendments aimed at bringing the conference report more in line with the bipartisan reauthorization bill that every Member of the Senate approved last year. In light of the abuse perpetrated by the Republican leadership, I felt compelled yesterday to oppose cloture on the bill and the stifling of meaningful debate. Today's vote is a different and more difficult matter. Because the Republican leadership obstructed efforts to improve the bill, the ``police state'' provisions regarding gag orders remain uncorrected.…”