The Patriot Act's Watchdog

A BuzzFlash Interview. Posted June 17, 2005.

There's no stopping Bernie Sanders. The only Independent (I) member of the House of Representatives, he sponsored the amendment that declawed some of the most invasive provisions of the Patriot Act, namely the parts that allowed federal agents to snoop into library and bookstore records without a warrant. Sanders is the favorite bet to become the next Senator from Vermont, replacing the only Independent member of the Senate, Jim Jeffords. In fact, the last poll showed him with an average of a 40 point lead over two potential Republican opponents.

What does all this prove? That if you stand up for what you believe in and keep fighting for it, and don't back down, you earn the respect of your constituents. In the case of Sanders, Vermont has only one Congressional Representative, so his Congressional constituents will be the same people as his Senate constituents.

Americans like someone with backbone and a couple of fists ready to do battle -- and someone who isn't wishy-washy. Not to mention, Bernie's a pro-democracy, pro-working class kind of guy, without apologies. That's why they love Bernie in the Green Mountain State.

Buzzflash: On June 10, there was a meeting of the Judiciary Committee chaired by the Republican chairman from Wisconsin, James Sensenbrenner, at which Congressman Conyers invited witnesses to speak to how the Patriot Act is not going well, and is violating American civil liberties. Congressman Sensenbrenner summarily gaveled the meeting to a close because he didn't like the way it was going, meaning that people were objecting to the Patriot Act, and this was getting on television.

We [at Buzzflash] have very strong feelings about the so-called Patriot Act. We view this as a power play by the Bush Administration to gain powers that would be centralized in the Executive branch and not subject to any checks and balances. As you're aware, in the Senate they had a secret meeting recently about the Patriot Act in which they discussed giving the FBI subpoena powers without having to go through the courtroom. What is your whole take about where we're at with the Patriot Act?

Congressman Sanders: I voted against the Patriot Act. I've introduced, I think, the first legislation to start amending the Patriot Act, which is to take libraries and bookstores out of Section 215. By the way, that was brought to the floor of the House last summer, and at the end of the regulation time, we had won that vote. Tom DeLay kept the rolls open for another twenty minutes and twisted some Republican arms. And we ended up losing it by a 210-210 vote. [That amendment went before the House again on Tuesday and we won 238-187!]

The whole idea of the Patriot Act does concern me very, very much. We do have to be vigorous in protecting the American people from terrorism, but I do not believe that you have to undermine Constitutional rights in order to do so. The Bush Administration's position on civil liberties has been a disaster, not just with the USA Patriot Act, but also moving toward a national ID card, their desire to make sure that the PBS becomes a Republican outlet, the fact that they entertained an extreme right-wing blogger in the White House conference room to allow softball questions to be asked, the fact that it is extremely difficult for members of the opposition to get amendments heard on the floor of the House. There has been a huge abuse of power on the part of the Republican leadership. The Patriot Act is just another step that will chip away at Americans' Constitutional rights.

On the Senate side they are mulling over the FBI being given subpoena powers without having to get the approval of a judge.

I totally disagree with it. In the Congress a number of provisions are up for being sunsetted. The Senate has not sunset anything. In fact, they've expanded the rights of the government to get information from Americans without judicial review. Obviously, that is moving in exactly the wrong direction.

This is a real centralization of power in the Executive branch. The FBI, of course, works for the Executive branch. How much of a threat is that?

You have the most secretive Administration probably in the history of this country, an Administration which claims to be "conservative," but in fact is right-wing extremist. Honest conservatives believe in the decentralization of power. Power back to the states, back to local communities. This Administration, more than any that we can remember, wants power for itself, wants to do away, time after time, with judicial review, has an Attorney General who wrote a recommendation regarding and approving detainee torture, is sending prisoners to other countries to be tortured, has run a very bad process in Guantanamo, to say the least. Obviously, in terms of civil liberties, this is a very dangerous Administration, and we've got to fight back as vigorously as we can.

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