Comment On Presidential Signing Of The OPEN Government Act

"In the closing days of its first session, the 110th Congress was able to deliver to the President's desk the first reforms to the Freedom of Information Act in more than a decade. Earlier this week, the President signed into law the OPEN Government Act, bringing greater transparency to a government that in recent years has seen increased efforts to conceal important information from the American people. In a time when government is compiling more and more information about every American, it ha… Continue Reading

Leahy Leads Bipartisan Effort To Hold Insurance Companies Accountable Under The Antitrust Laws

Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Chairman of the Judiciary Committee today joined with Senate Democratic and Republican leaders to introduce a bipartisan bill that would level the playing field so that insurance companies must abide by the same competition laws as every other industry. Leahy introduced the Insurance Industry Competition Act, along with the panel's Ranking Member, Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.), Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, (D-Nev.), and Senate Republican Whip Trent Lot… Continue Reading

Opening Statement Of Sen. Patrick Leahy Ranking Member, Judiciary Committee On The Conference Report On H.R.3199 The USA PATRIOT Improvement And Reauthorization Act Of 2005

Earlier this week, I spoke about how the world changed on September 11, 2001. Nearly 3,000 lives were lost on American soil. In the aftermath of the attacks, Congress moved quickly to pass anti-terrorism legislation. The fires were still smoldering at Ground Zero when the USA PATRIOT Act became law on October 30, 2001, just six weeks after that horrible day. Security and liberty are always in tension in our free society, and especially so in the wa… Continue Reading

Summary of USA PATRIOT Act

THE UNITING AND STRENGTHENING AMERICA BY PROVIDING APPROPRIATE TOOLS REQUIRED TO INTERCEPT AND OBSTRUCT TERRORISM (USA PATRIOT) ACT OF 2001, H.R. 3162 SECTION-BY-SECTION ANALYSIS Sec. 1. Short title and table of contents. Both S. 1510 passed by the Senate on October 11, 2001 (the "Senate bill"), and H.R. 2975 passed by the House of Representatives on October 12, 2001, included this section containing the short title "Uniting and Strengthening America (USA) Act of 2001" and the table of conte… Continue Reading