109th Congress / House / 1st session / Vote 258
- Question: On Agreeing to the Amendment
- Bill: H R 2862
- Vote type: Recorded Vote (Help)
- Result: Agreed to, 238-187, with 8 not voting.
- Date/time: June 15, 2005, 5:54 p.m.
- Amendment num: Sanders of Vermont Amendment
- Republican majority opinion: No (Help)
- Democrat majority opinion: Yes (Help)
Key Vote Analysis
This vote temporarily stopped federal law enforcement officials from being able to easily seize library and bookstore records. The authority to get the records without a traditional warrant was one of the provisions of the original 2001 Patriot Act. President Bush opposed any curtailing of federal law enforcement authority and threatened to veto any bill with this amendment attached.
The amendment said that, going forward, authorities would have to get a search warrant from a judge or grand jury instead of relying on approval from the Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act Court, which has a lower threshold of proof. The Justice Department argued it had used this authority wisely and very selectively since it was extended in the original Patriot Act law. A coalition of liberals, conservatives and libertarians (including many Republicans), rejected the Bush administration's arguments. They asserted the authority was a threat to the privacy of law-abiding citizens and voted to revoke it. The vote was seen as a defeat for President Bush and for the House Republican leadership, which had opposed the move to limit law enforcement's ability to get the records.
In early March 2006 a compromise bill was adopted by both the House/Senate that renewed most provisions of the Patriot Act, including the authority to get library and bookstore records without a traditional warrant. President Bush signed the measure into law on March 9, 2006.
See other key votes in the 109th Congress
