WASHINGTON, Oct. 12 /U.S. Newswire/ -- Bipartisan anti-terrorism
legislation supported by a unanimous House Judiciary Committee was
jettisoned by congressional leaders today in order to push through
a bill that abandons many civil liberties protections agreed to by
committee members of both parties. The bill that passed the House
today closely mirrors legislation that passed overwhelmingly in the
Senate on Thursday. People For the American Way President Ralph G.
Neas criticized both the substance of the House legislation and the
abuse of democratic process that brought it to the floor.

"The House Judiciary Committee's effort to responsibly balance
national security and civil liberties concerns was a model of
bipartisan cooperation," said People For the American Way President
Ralph G. Neas. "Today's action made a mockery of that effort."

The new bill, railroaded onto the floor of the House this
afternoon in a series of close partisan votes, does not contain
many of the civil liberties protections that Judiciary Committee
members had embraced after public hearings. Civil liberties
advocates in both parties worked hard to make important
improvements in the dangerously sweeping legislation initially
proposed by Attorney General John Ashcroft.

Neas said that while the current bill contains a number of
improvements over Ashcroft's initial proposals, it still creates
the potential for serious violations of Americans' civil liberties.
Neas called a partial five-year sunset provision contained in the
House legislation "disappointingly narrow," but said that
"nevertheless, having a sunset provision in the final legislation
is vital to providing some check on potential abuse."

"People For the American Way and other civil liberties advocates
will intensively monitor the implementation of these new measures,"
said Neas. "We will not hesitate to seek congressional action even
before the five-year sunset provision if there is evidence of
abuse."

"Attorney General Ashcroft's radical legislation and his demand
for immediate congressional passage provoked strong concerns than
spanned the left-right spectrum within Congress and the advocacy
community," said Neas. "It was a victory for the democratic
process that Congress insisted on public hearings, and that so many
people tried to shape effective anti-terrorism legislation while
addressing the serious civil liberties problems raised by the
administration's proposals."

"It is unfortunate that under pressure from the administration,
House leaders abandoned much of that work," Neas said.

People For the American Way had called for public hearings on
the administration's legislation, and urged members of Congress to
pass legislation that adhered to three basic principles:

-- Language should be carefully crafted in order to preserve
constitutional liberties and to prevent the creation of overly
broad powers that could lead to abuse.

-- Meaningful judicial review and oversight should not be
short-circuited.

-- Anti-terrorism laws should be narrowly tailored to that
purpose.

Neas said the legislation passed by the House today fails to
meet these standards in a number of ways, including expansion of
government ability to carry out secret searches, lack of privacy
protections regarding information obtained in investigations, and
the fact that many of the new police powers extend well beyond
efforts to combat terrorism.

Contact: Peter Montgomery of the People for the American Way,
202-467-2388 Web site: www.pfaw.org
 

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