An extension of the Patriot Act with no reforms of its abusive powers of unreasonable search and seizure against American citizens has passed the House of Representatives. The vote was 315 in favor of extending the Patriot Act without reform, 97 against, and 20 not voting.
Search for information about the roll call of this vote online tonight, and you’ll just find this nameless tally of numbers. You won’t find the names. Why?
The reason is that the House Democratic leadership voted on the renewal of the Patriot Act in such a way as to hide the vote from the American people. Go to the web site of the Clerk of the House, and you’ll see no vote from today about the Patriot Act at all. What you will see is Roll Call 67, “On Motion to Concur in Senate Amendments” for H.R. 3961, the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act.
That’s the vote on whether to extend the Patriot Act without any reforms of its abusive spying programs. It doesn’t look like it, of course, but the Patriot Act extension is what’s referred to by “Senate Amendments”. The Senate Democrats sneaked the Patriot Act extension into a Medicare reform bill, and then voted by voice vote to approve the amendment so that no politician would have to have their name attached to this shameless abandonment of liberty. The House Democrats benefited from the maneuver as well, being able to vote on unnamed amendments related to Medicare reform, rather than having it on the record for everyone to see that they voted to renew the worst abuses of the Patriot Act without any effort to protect Americans from their spying powers at all.
We here at Irregular Times refuse to go along with this underhanded political charade. We’re naming names. Let’s start with those members of the House of Representatives who got it right:
Representatives With The Courage To Vote NO
Neil Abercrombie – Tammy Baldwin – Roscoe Bartlett – Xavier Becerra – Howard Berman – Rob Bishop – Earl Blumenauer – John Boccieri – Bruce Braley – Mike Capuano – Jason Chaffetz – Judy Chu – Yvette Clarke – Emanuel Cleaver – Cohen – Jerry Costello – Joe Crowley – Elijah Cummings – Pete DeFazio – John Dingell – Lloyd Doggett – John Duncan – Donna Edwards – Vern Ehlers – Ellison – Eliot Engel – Sam Farr – Bob Filner – Barney Frank – Marcia Fudge – Al Green – Raul Grijalva – Phil Hare – Jane Harman – Alcee Hastings – Dean Heller – Maurice Hinchey – Mazie Hirono – Rush Holt – Mike Honda – Hank Johnson – Tim Johnson – Walter Jones – Steve Kagen – Dennis Kucinich – John Larson – Barbara Lee – John Lewis – Dave Loebsack – Ben Luján – Dan Maffei – Carolyn Maloney – Ed Markey – Doris Matsui – Betsy McCollum – McDermott – James McGovern – Gregory Meeks – Michael Michaud – George Miller – Walt Minnick – Gwen Moore – Jerrold Nadler – Richard Neal – Jim Oberstar – John Olver – Frank Pallone – Ed Pastor – Ron Paul – Don Payne – Tom Perriello – Chellie Pingree – Jared Polis – David Price – Laura Richardson – Tim Ryan – Linda Sánchez – Loretta Sanchez – John Sarbanes – Jan Schakowsky – Robert Scott – Jose Serrano – Carol Shea-Porter – Brad Sherman – Jackie Speier – Mike Thompson – John Tierney – Ed Towns – Nydia Velázquez – Peter Visclosky – Maxine Waters – Mel Watt – Henry Waxman – Peter Welch – Lynn Woolsey – David Wu – Don Young
Now, those who stood by and did nothing, though they didn’t do the wrong thing either.
Not Voting:
Gresham Barrett – Tim Bishop – Rick Boucher – Lois Capps – Nathan Deal – Charles Dent – Mary Fallin – Phil Gingrey – Ralph Hall – Connie Mack – Sue Myrick – Joseph Pitts – Tom Price – George Radanovich – Dave Reichert – Pete Stark – Bart Stupak – John Sullivan – Lynn Westmoreland – Joe Wilson
And finally, the pure scoundrels of the day, the U.S. Representatives who voted to extend the worst parts of the Patriot Act, aspects of the law known to be routinely abused, targeting American citizens, without any reforms whatsoever.
Representatives voting AYE to more spying without reform
Gary Ackerman – Aderholt – John Adler – Todd Akin – Rodney Alexander – Jason Altmire – Rob Andrews – Mike Arcuri – Steve Austria – Joe Baca – Michele Bachmann – Spencer Bachus – Brian Baird – John Barrow – Joe Barton – Melissa Bean – Shelly Berkley – Marion Berry – Judy Biggert – Brian Bilbray – Gus Bilirakis – Sanford Bishop – Marsha Blackburn – Roy Blunt – John Boehner – Jo Bonner – Mary Bono Mack – John Boozman – Dan Boren – Leon Boswell – Charles Boustany – Allen Boyd – Bob Brady – Kevin Brady – Bobby Bright – Paul Broun – Henry Brown – Corrine Brown – Ginny Brown-Waite – Vern Buchanan – Mike Burgess – Dan Burton – G. K. Butterfield – Steve Buyer – Ken Calvert – Dave Camp – John Campbell – Eric Cantor – Joseph Cao – Shelly Capito – Dennis Cardoza – Russ Carnahan – Chris Carney – Andre Carson – John Carter – Bill Cassidy – Mike Castle – Kathy Castor – Ben Chandler – Travis Childers – William Lacy Clay – Jim Clyburn – Howard Coble – Mike Coffman – Tom Cole – Mike Conaway – Gerry Connolly – John Conyers – Jim Cooper – Jim Costa – Joe Courtney – Ander Crenshaw – Henry Cuellar – John Culberson – Kathleen Dahlkemper – Artur Davis – Susan Davis – Danny Davis – Geoff Davis – Lincoln Davis – Diana DeGette – William Delahunt – Rosa DeLauro – Lincoln Diaz-Balart – Mario Diaz-Balart – Norm Dicks – Joe Donnelly, Mike Doyle – David Dreier – Steve Driehaus – Chet Edwards – Brad Ellsworth – Jo Ann Emerson – Anna Eshoo – Bob Etheridge – Chaka Fattah – Jeff Flake – John Fleming – Randy Forbes – Jeff Fortenberry – Bill Foster – Virginia Foxx – Trent Franks – Rodney Frelinghuysen – Elton Gallegly – John Garamendi – Scott Garrett – Jim Gerlach – Gabrielle Giffords – Louie Gohmert – Charles Gonzalez – Bob Goodlatte – Bart Gordon – Kay Granger – Sam Graves – Alan Grayson – Gene Green – Parker Griffith – Brett Guthrie – Luis Gutierrez – John Hall – Deborah Halvorson – Greg Harper – Doc Hastings – Martin Heinrich – Jeb Hensarling – Wally Herger – Stephanie Herseth Sandlin – Brian Higgins – Baron Hill – James Himes – Ruben Hinojosa – Paul Hodes – Peter Hoekstra – Tim Holden – Steny Hoyer – Duncan Hunter – Bob Inglis – Jay Inslee – Steve Israel – Darrel Issa – Jesse Jackson – Sheila Jackson Lee – Lynn Jenkins – Eddie Bernice Johnson – Sam Johnson – Jim Jordan, Paul Kanjorski – Marcy Kaptur – Patrick Kennedy – Dale Kildee – Carolyn Kilpatrick – Mary Jo Kilroy – Ron Kind – Steve King – Peter King – Jack Kingston – Mark Kirk – Ann Kirkpatrick – Larry Kissell – Ron Klein – John Kline – Suzanne Kosmas – Frank Kratovil – Doug Lamborn – Leonard Lance – James Langevin – Rick Larsen – Tom Latham – Steven LaTourette – Bob Latta – Chris Lee – Sander Levin – Jerry Lewis – John Linder – Dan Lipinski – Frank LoBiondo – Zoe Lofgren – Nita Lowey – Frank Lucas – Blaine Luetkemeyer – Cynthia Lummis – Dan Lungren – Stephen Lynch – Don Manzullo – Kenny Marchant – Betsy Markey – Jim Marshall – Eric Massa – Jim Matheson – Kevin McCarthy – Carolyn McCarthy – Mike McCaul – Tom McClintock – Thad McCotter – Patrick McHenry – Mike McIntyre – Buck McKeon – Mike McMahon – Cathy McMorris Rodgers – Jerry McNerney – Kendrick Meek – Charles Melancon – John Mica – Jeff Miller – Candice Miller – Brad Miller – Gary Miller – Harry Mitchell – Alan Mollohan – Dennis Moore – Jerry Moran – James Moran – Chris Murphy – Scott Murphy – Patrick Murphy – Tim Murphy – Grace Napolitano – Randy Neugebauer – Devin Nunes – Glenn Nye – Dave Obey – Peter Olson – Solomon Ortiz – Bill Owens – Bill Pascrell – Erik Paulsen – Mike Pence – Ed Perlmutter – Gary Peters – Collin Peterson – Tom Petri – Todd Platts – Ted Poe – Earl Pomeroy – Bill Posey – Adam Putnam – Mike Quigley – Nick Rahall – Charles Rangel – Denny Rehberg – Silvestre Reyes – Ciro Rodriguez – David Roe – Mike Rogers – Harold Rogers – Mike Rogers – Dana Rohrabacher – Tom Rooney – Ileana Ros-Lehtinen – Peter Roskam – Mike Ross – Steve Rothman – Lucille Roybal-Allard – Ed Royce – Dutch Ruppersberger – Bobby Rush – Paul Ryan – John Salazar – Steve Scalise – Mark Schauer – Adam Schiff – Jean Schmidt – Aaron Schock – Kurt Schrader – Allyson Schwartz – David Scott – James Sensenbrenner – Pete Sessions – Joe Sestak – John Shadegg – John Shimkus – Heath Shuler – Bill Shuster – Mike Simpson – Albio Sires – Ike Skelton – Louise Slaughter – Adrian Smith – Christopher Smith – Lamar Smith – Adam Smith – Vic Snyder – Souder – Zack Space – John Spratt – Cliff Stearns – Betty Sutton – John Tanner – Gene Taylor – Harry Teague – Lee Terry – Bennie Thompson – Glenn Thompson – Mac Thornberry – Todd Tiahrt – Patrick Tiberi – Dina Titus – Paul Tonko – Niki Tsongas – Michael Turner – Fred Upton – Chris Van Hollen – Greg Walden – Tim Walz – Zach Wamp – Debbie Wasserman Schultz – Diane Watson – Anthony Weiner – Ed Whitfield – Charles Wilson – Rob Wittman – Frank Wolf – John Yarmuth – Bill Young
Can you provide the source of the Roll Call vote too?
Yes. Sorry, I’m trying to get this up as fast as possible. Source of the roll call vote is the House Clerk: http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2010/roll067.xml
thanks for posting…have forwarded your web address to libertarian blogs, etc. -like your article said, i couldn’t find elsewhere on the web…
Thanks for spreading the word about this important vote, charrob.
Thanks for the link. I didn’t realize the extension was part of the Medicare Physician Payment Reform Act (though I suppose I should hardly be surprised).
Thanks for being sneaky about your agenda! Transparent goverment? I think not!
i hope we vote these yea-saying bastards out of office in November!
My “yea-saying bastard” is Congressman Arcuri. Who is yours, Tom?
I’m lucky to have a nay-saying Representative. Thanks, Chellie Pingree.
i really appreciate the blue highlights that enable me to contact my representative. i just left michele bachman a nasty e-mail and i am anxiously awaiting her response. no, i’m not holding my breathe.
seven minutes. that’s how long it took for michele’s generic e-mail response. she said thanks for the contact and wants me to sign up for news letters and she will reply to my concerns at a later date. that’s better than no reply at all, i guess. i’m going to keep on her and see if i get a real response. i think she likes me! i think she really likes me!
What parts were extended, and why are they bad? Not disagreeing, just looking for some insight before I lay into my representative.
Good questions. The three sections of the Patriot Act that were extended were Section 215, authorizing government appropriation of business and library records regarding people not suspected of any criminal activity with gag orders to boot, Section 505 authorizes “national security letters” to grab information on law-abiding Americans’ private activities without probable cause of a crime, and a “lone wolf” provision that allows people acting alone to be treated as if they were a foreign-sponsored spy or terrorist. Some starting resources to learn about the problems with these provisions: Senate minority report, an American Library Association statement on the matter, and statistics showing that the powers are overwhelmingly used in non-terrorism cases. There’s a lot more, but these are a good start.
Wow, I see my Commie Congress Critter voted against it. Kagen (D) WI-08 I wonder if it’s because it’s an election year? Naww, couldn’t be,
Jim: my yea-saying bastard was Gerlach (Mr. Corporate spokesperson), who i e-mail often about issues but rarely does he go along with my opinion.
Do we have a list on Senators that voted yes?
No, we can’t get that because the Democratic leadership in the Senate arranged a voice vote in order to avoid accountability for Democratic senators. What we COULD do is to take a look at whether any senators have made statements in protest of the vote, stating that they voted no. Unless we can find any such statements, there’s no record at all. I’ll work on that this weekend.
Let me know if you need help. I thought maybe we could roll through some C-Span tapes and get it that way.
J. — great work.
According to Politico, the Senate voice vote was unanimous. Every single Democratic Senator who ever grandstanded against the Patriot Act voted for it.
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0210/33562.html
Glad you put this up. I needed a way to find out what idiots voted for this. I have to say though, you’re ideas about what bills actually help “America” as they hinge on Progressive legislation are totally wrong. You claim the government should have the right to alter contracts by alleviating mortgages. That is totally against the Constitution you love to quote from so much. There is a whole array of issues you put forth that are totally against the Constitution. Organizations that are so contradictory are dangerous to the people living under the US government, and you should definitely reconsider your priorities. The only way you can have a government respect a constitution, if there is a way at all, is if organizations such as this respect it as well. Seems to me there is no constitutional respect on this webpage. All I see is a group of people willing to give government the power to totally control the economy and then get mad when the government screws us over by exercising those powers. You have no right to give the government a gun and tell them how to control others lives.
What organizations are you talking about that are so dangerous to the people? You’re ideas about what bills? Who is you’re? Again what organizations? Who is “you” about giving the right to the the government? Finally, what are you even talking about?
I thought my representative was doing the right thing. Apparently not. Thanks for letting everyone know how our elected officials keep us in the dark. They need to remember that our government is for the people and by the people. Looks like we have to find a whole new slate to choose from.
Good post here defining the Patriot Act and its ability to impose martial law on the country. Obama has consistently mislead American’s about his intentions, one lie after another. Thanks for the post.
Thanks for commenting, Dave, but the post you link to is pretty far off base. It discusses “Patriot Act II” without revealing that the “Patriot Act II” legislation was not only not passed by Congress but also was never introduced to it. It was a draft of legislation drawn up by someone in the Bush administration in 2003 which was really stupid and scary but which also was not pursued. To discuss this draft as if it reflects enacted policy is irresponsible. And other than using the phrase “martial law” in sentences a few times, there actually is no connection made in the article between the Patriot Act and martial law.
Jim,
We know how crafty the gov. is but if you had been watching C-Span (please forgive me as I can not re-collect the exact date) you would have watched as they (gov) gave themselves the authority to suspend our “Constitution” & “Bill of Rights”. If that does not say “Martial Law” then if you can, please educate me.
This is more than just democrats. Hold everyone accountable.
The only thing I can say is that God Bless you for naming them so we can hold them accountable and ask them Why? Why are they going against the constitution that they claim to love so much?
Be aware: This is NOT the 2011 roll call!
For this year’s betrayal: http://irregulartimes.com/patriotact2011house.html
So, maybe our next president will be able to use this on real crime, like on Obama, on Holder, on Palosie and all the criminals that are sitting in the WH now…this Patriot Act will come in handy in the hands of the RIGHT president