Serrano Reiterates Opposition to the USA Patriot Act
Washington, DC, March 8, 2006Congressman José E. Serrano released the following statement on the changes to the reauthorization of the USA Patriot Act that passed last night in the House by a margin of two votes. Serrano voted against the changes, calling them "an inadequate fig leaf that cannot cover the flaws in the Patriot Act."
"This ill-conceived law should never have been reauthorized," Serrano said. "The slight changes that passed last night, billed as a compromise,' did nothing to alleviate civil liberties and privacy concerns. The government can still conduct clandestine searches of innocent people's private information such as library, medical, and financial records. This is wrong and should have been addressed in a true compromise."
"The USA Patriot Act was hastily passed in the wake of 9/11 with little time to weigh the consequences. Now we have had time to see that many of its provisions violate civil liberties and give too much unchecked power to law-enforcement agencies. In the past I have called for repealing parts of the act because I think they remove necessary checks against abuse of power by law enforcement agencies at the same time that it gives them increased powers.
"In the House, the Republicans allowed no debate on these changes. I do not believe that Americans sent us here to superficially consider legislation that has such a profound effect on civil liberties. We are not here to be a rubber stamp for everything this Administration claims it needs for the war on terror. These changes do not address the fundamental flaws in the Patriot Act."
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/ny16_serrano/060308Patriot.html