Senator Santorum Praises Senate Passage of Patriot Act Reauthorization
Senator Santorum Praises Senate Passage of Patriot Act Reauthorization
Legislation Includes Two Important Santorum Initiatives
U.S. Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA), Chairman of the Senate Republican Conference, today announced the reauthorization of the USA PATRIOT Act through Senate passage of H.R. 3199, the USA PATRIOT Improvement and Reauthorization Act. Without passage of this bill, sixteen provisions were set to expire.
"I am pleased that the Senate has acted to ensure that our law enforcement and intelligence community will continue to have the tools that they need to keep our fellow citizens safe," said Senator Santorum.
The USA PATRIOT Act has proved an effective tool in the critical terror investigations to date. In September 2002, law enforcement credited the USA PATRIOT Act with leading to the arrests of a terrorist cell in Lackawanna, New York. Additionally, law enforcement used provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act in investigations of terrorist cells in California, Oregon and Virginia. The conference report also includes increased civil liberties protections as well as a number of new provisions for congressional oversight and public reporting.
"As a member of the United States Senate, I will monitor these provisions and I will continue to vigorously defend our civil rights."
The bill also includes two additional provisions of great interest to Senator Santorum. First, the bill provides new tools to combat the methamphetamine epidemic including reclassifying meth pre-curser chemicals as Schedule Listed Chemicals, mandating behind-the-counter storage of these items, and ensuring that any person convicted of a methamphetamine-related offense is liable for clean-up costs. It also authorizes grants to state and local law enforcement agencies to assist in the investigation of methamphetamine traffickers and grants to states to assist in treatment of children who have been endangered by living at a residence where methamphetamine has been manufactured or distributed.
Second, the bill enacts legislation based on Senator Santorum's Good Samaritan Volunteer Firefighter Assistance Act of 2005, S. 766, which will remove civil liability barriers that discourage the donation of fire equipment to volunteer fire companies.
http://santorum.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=PressOffice.View&ContentRecord_id=1696&Region_id=0&Issue_id=0