Congress just reauthorized the Patriot Act as part of a must-pass spending bill
UPDATE: Congress just reauthorized the Patriot Act as part of the Continuing Resolution must-pass spending bill. A handful of Democrats bucked leadership to oppose mass surveillance. Now we have 3 months to build support for legislation to rein in government spying. More soon!
This is not good. The Patriot Act is the hastily passed law that enables the US government’s most grotesque mass surveillance programs. We know for a fact that the government has used it to violate our constitutional and human rights. But House Democrats just included a three month straight reauthorization of the Patriot Act in the “Continuing Resolution” must pass spending bill. And the Congress is voting on it TODAY.
By kicking the can down the road, Congressional leadership is taking the pressure off of negotiators, foiling one of our best chances to finally get meaningful reform that reins in the mass government surveillance. We need to get as many members of Congress as possible to vote against the Continuing Resolution unless the Patriot Act reauthorization is removed.
Representatives like AOC, Justin Amash, and Ilhan Omar have already tweeted that they will vote against this. Please retweet, thank them, and amplify that so we can get other reps on board. This is not a partisan issue, so contact your reps regardless of which party they’re part of.
Our friends at Restore the Fourth have a simple tool that lets you look up where your reps stand on surveillance and tweet at them. Below are the 20 or so members of Congress who are either most likely to vote against the CR today or who have the most control over the process. Tweet and call them right now and tell them: “Vote NO on the Continuing Resolution because it reauthorizes the Patriot Act!”
- Speaker Nancy Pelosi | (202) 225–4965 | @SpeakerPelosi
- Leader Steny Hoyer | (202) 225–4131 | @LeaderHoyer
- Rep Karen Bass | (202) 225–7084 | @RepKarenBass
- Rep Earl Blumenauer | (202) 225–4811 | @RepBlumenauer
- Rep Suzanne Bonamici | (202) 225–0855 | @RepBonamici
- Rep Judy Chu | (202) 225–5464 | @RepJudyChu
- Rep David Cicilline | (202) 225–4911 | @RepCicilline
- Rep Yvette Clarke |(202) 225–6231 | @RepYvetteClarke
- Rep Steve Cohen | (202) 225–3265 | @RepCohen
- Rep Rosa DeLauro |(202) 225–3661 | @RosaDeLauro
- Rep Tulsi Gabbard | (202) 225–4906 | @TulsiGabbard
- Rep Paul Gosar | (202) 225–2315 | @RepGosar
- Rep Pramila Jayapal | 202–225–3106 | @RepJayapal
- Rep Jim Jordan | (202) 225–2676 | @Jim_Jordan
- Rep Ro Khanna | 202–225–2631 | @RoKhannaUSA
- Rep John Lewis | (202) 225–3801 | @RepJohnLewis
- Rep Zoe Lofgren | (202) 225–3072 | @RepZoeLofgren
- Rep Thomas Massie | (202) 225–3465 | @RepThomasMassie
- Rep Frank Pallone | (202) 225–4671 | @FrankPallone
- Rep Ayanna Pressley | (202) 225–5111 |@AyannaPressley
- Rep Maxine Waters | (323) 757–8900 | @RepMaxineWaters
Share this post everywhere. Tweet and call all of those reps. Retweet the tweets below to help sound the alarm online. We can’t let politicians in DC reauthorize the Patriot Act without a fight. We need to show them we’re still paying attention so that when this comes back up in 3 months, we can win.
