USA PATRIOT Act Reauthorization Proposals and Related Matters in Brief

Publication Date: July 2005

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Media, telecommunications, and information

Type:

Abstract:

Several sections of the USA PATRIOT Act, P.L. 107-56, that expand federal law enforcement or foreign intelligence information gathering powers, are scheduled to sunset on December 31, 2005. Legislation has been introduced in both the House and the Senate to make these expiring provisions or some of them permanent, e.g., H.R. 3199 (Representative Sensenbrenner), S. 1266 (Senator Roberts), S. 1389 (Senator Specter). Other proposals would enlarge the list of expiring USA PATRIOT Acts sections, rendering temporary various, now permanent sections, e.g., H.R. 1526 (Representative Otter), S. 737 (Senator Craig). Many of the proposals modify expiring sections before reauthorizing them, or reauthorize related temporary provisions enacted in other legislation, or amend or make temporary certain of the USA PATRIOT Act's permanent sections, or create or modify other related provisions dealing with law enforcement and foreign intelligence information gathering authority. This is a short background discussion of some of these proposals and brief summary of their content.