Patrick Leahy: “today by amending and passing H.R. 4311, we make another attempt to extend critical protections needed to keep the…”

“today by amending and passing H.R. 4311, we make another attempt to extend critical protections needed to keep the Nation's Federal judges and their families safe. Last November, the Senate passed S. 1558, which extended for 4 years the ``sunset'' of a provision granting the Judicial Conference of the United States the authority to redact information from a judge's mandatory financial disclosure in circumstances in which it is determined that the release of the information could endanger the filer or the filer's family. This provision was first enacted in the ``Identity Theft and Assumption Deterrence Act of 1998'' and extended for 4 years in 2001. Chairman Specter and I worked with Senators Collins and Lieberman to amend S. 1558 to again include a 4-year ``sunset'' and also to extend its protections to the family members of filers. Like the more comprehensive court security measure Chairman Specter and I have introduced, S. 1968, the ``Court Security Improvement Act of 2005, CSIA, from which it is drawn, S. 1558 provides judges and their families with needed security by extending the judges' redaction authority without interruption and expanding it to their families. It also strikes the right balance with the need for continuing congressional oversight to prevent the misuse of this redaction authority, which has been a matter of some concern to me. I appreciate that the Judicial Conference is seeking to improve its practices and the Senate passed S.…”