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Senate Majority and Minority Leaders Harry Reid (D. NV) and Mitch McConnell (R. KY), as well as House Speaker John Boehner (R. OH) arranged the deal. Reid then filed a May 19 cloture petition to force quick Senate passage, followed in the House before the May 27 deadline.
Under this procedure, only amendments submitted before cloture is invoked may be considered. However, according to the Congressional Research Service (CRS), "first-degree" amendments may be filed "on the day after the filing of the cloture petition, (and) second-degree amendments may be filed until at least one hour prior to the start of the cloture vote....(e)xcept by unanimous consent" as stipulated under Rule XXII.
Of concern are three provisions set to expire without extension:
(1) Allowing limitless use of roving wiretaps.
(2) Section 215, pertaining to alleged suspects, authorizing government access to "any tangible item," including financial records and transactions, student and medical records, phone conversations, emails, other Internet use, and whatever else is surveilled.
(3) Permitting alleged suspect organizations and individuals to be surveilled, whether or not evidence links them to terrorism or complicity to commit it. In other words, this amounts to unchecked police state powers to monitor anyone for any reason or none at all.
The ACLU Responds
On May 20, it urged concerned citizens to "Contract Congress Now Before it Deals Away Your Privacy Rights!" saying:
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