The Benjamin Franklin True Patriot Act (H.R. 3171) was a bill intended to review the previously passed USA Patriot Act. The bill was referred to subcommittees where it languished without action taken before the end of the 108th United States Congress. The bill will have to be re-introduced in order to be considered again.

Overview

The bill was sponsored by Representatives Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) and Ron Paul (R-Texas), with 27 co-sponsors, all Democrats (except Ron Paul, who frequently votes independently from most other Republicans). The intent was to review the USA PATRIOT Act to make sure it does not "inappropriately undermine civil liberties." Its naming, as described in Sec. 2, No. 1, regards Benjamin Franklin's famous quote, "Those who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety."

The act would have created a 90-day review period, in which parts of the USA PATRIOT Act could be removed from Sections 4-10. After 90 days, the remaining segments in those sections would cease to have effect. Specific provisions that are named include the "sneak and peek searches," naturalization issues, attorney-client privilege, and secrecy orders (involving the Freedom of Information Act). This bill was presented to the House on September 24, 2003, and was referred to subcommittees for consideration. No action was taken before the end of the 108th Congress. The bill will need to be re-introduced in order to be considered again. It has many important supporters, including the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the NAACP, and other such organizations.

The act would have made 11 sections of the Patriot Act null and void 90 days after the bill is enacted. Under the language of the bill, the president can request Congress to hold hearings to determine whether a particular section should be removed from the repeal list before the end of the 90-day period. Congress may or may not honor that request.

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September 24th 2003 - Dennis Kucinich in speech to members of House: "Twenty-four months after the Sept. 11th attacks, this nation has undergone a dramatic political change, leading to an unprecedented assault on the United States Constitution and the Bill of Rights."

Effects Upon the USA PATRIOT Act

IF the Benjamin Franklin True Patriot Act had been passed, it would have REPEALED the following portions of the USA PATRIOT Act:

• Section 213 - Authorizes property to be searched and seized in secret by government law enforcement officials, without notifying the subject of a warrant.
• Section 214 & Section 216 - Pen registers for foreign intelligence purposes and criminal cases. (Pen registers record all phone numbers dialed from a person's telephone).
• Section 215 - Authorizes searches of library, bookstore, medical, financial, religious and travel records without a judicial warrant.
• Section 218 - This section of the PATRIOT Act eliminated the Fourth Amendment's requirement for "probable cause" when obtaining a search warrant.
• Section 411 & 412 - Grants new grounds for the deportation and/or the mandatory detention of aliens.
• Section 505 - Authorizes FBI field agents to issue national security letters to obtain financial, bank and credit records of individuals - all without a court order or judicial oversight.
• Section 507 & 508 - Seizure of educational records and the disclosure of individually identifiable information under the National Education Statistics Act of 1994.
• Section 802 - Repeal the Patriot's Definition of "Domestic Terrorism". The definition is so broad that political protests that unaccountably become violent could be classified as domestic terrorism.

• The Benjamin Franklin True Patriot Act would repeal sections of the Homeland Security Act of 2002, so that the Department of Justice and the Department of Homeland Security are no longer exempt from Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
• The federal government would no longer be able to monitor conversations between attorneys and their clients, violating the fundamental right of attorney-client privilege.
• The proposed act reinstates tough guidelines instituted in 1989 by former Attorney General Dick Thornburg to rein in a runaway FBI, which had been conducting unlawful surveillance of protesters, peace demonstrators and religious groups. Spying on religious institutions - allowed by Ashcroft's rules - would be put under strict limits.

Sources

• The cosponsors for this bill (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/bdquery/z?d108:HR03171:@@@L&summ2=m&)
• The text for this bill (http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c108:H.R.3171:)