Statement of U.S. Senator Russ Feingold on S. 1389, the USA PATRIOT Act Improvement and Reauthorization Act July 29, 2005 "Mr. President, I want to say a few words about the version of S. 1389, the USA PATRIOT Act Improvement and Reauthorization Act, that the Judiciary Committee unanimously reported last week. I am pleased that the Senate is about to pass it without modification. The compromise that the Judiciary Committee worked out addresses a number of the concerns that I have been talking about since October 2001 when the Senate first considered the Patriot Act on the floor. We have come a long way since that night, and I am grateful for the efforts of my colleagues to try to deal with the civil liberties concerns that have been raised both here in the Senate and around the country. This is not a perfect bill, but it is a good bill. This bill does not address all of the problems with the Patriot Act. But the compromise does deal with the core concerns that I and others have had about the standard for Section 215 orders, sneak and peek search warrants, and meaningful judicial review of Section 215 orders and National Security Letters, including judicial review of the gag rule. It does not go as far on any of these issues as the SAFE Act, but it does make meaningful changes to current law. I want to be clear that this will not be the end of my efforts to further fix the Patriot Act. This bipartisan compromise takes a big step in the right direction, and I am pleased that I can support it, but I will continue to push for additional changes to the law. I also want to caution that the conference process must not be allowed to dilute the safeguards in this bill. This Senate bill goes much further than the House version in ensuring that Americans' civil liberties will be protected. I urge the Senate conferees to fight -- and fight hard -- for this bill."

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