When the Patriot Act was hastily enacted immediately after the 9-11 attacks it provided for the sunset in December 2005 of certain provisions which were deemed threatening to important constitutional rights. However, not all questionable provisions were set to sunset and concerned groups therefore requested additional civil liberties protections in separate legislation such as the proposed SAFE Act .

Currently there are several legislative proposals before congress which not only reauthorize provisions due to sunset and do not provide additional civil liberties safeguards for provisions not due to sunset, but also expand the Patriot Act by adding administrative subpoenas with limited judicial review. These are all matters which raise serious concerns and run counter to constitutionally guaranteed freedoms. These issues require open and substantial debate which this timetable does not permit.

LWVUS supports this position and has issued various action alerts requesting members to act to protect civil liberties being threatened by such reauthorization and proposed expansion of the Patriot Act.

This week, possibly as early as Wednesday July 20th, the U.S. House of Representatives is expected to vote on legislation that extends the Patriot Act without including provisions that will provide meaningful protection against governmental abuses of important constitutional rights. H.R. 3199 and S. 1389 are the two pieces of legislation which are poised to be voted on this week.

Even if you have previously contacted your member of Congress and United States Senators to express your concerns about the Patriot Act, we are asking you once again to call and urge them to vote to reform the Patriot Act. Urge them not to repeat the hurried actions of 2001 which preempted a more reasoned approach to these matters. Remind them that you are part of a growing and strong movement, among people of all political ideologies, who favor the common sense fixes contained in the SAFE Act.

A call to your congressional member and senators at their Washington, D.C. offices is being urged as the most effective means of communicating this urgent message. Here are the phone numbers you will need:

MEMBERS OF THE US HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES FROM PENNSYLVANIA

Robert Brady 1st District 202-225-4731

Charles W. Dent 15th District 202-225-6411

Mike Doyle 14th District 202-225-2135

Phil English 3rd District 202-225-5406

Chaka Fattah 2nd District 202-225-4001

Michael G. Fitzpatrick 8th District 202-225-4276

James W. Gerlach 6th District 202-225-4315

Melissa A. Hart 4th District 202-225-2565

Tim Holden 17th District 202-225-5546

Paul E. Kanjorski 11th District 202-225-6511

Timothy F. Murphy 18th District 202-225-2301

John P. Murtha, Jr. 12th District 202-225-2065

John E. Peterson 5th District 202-225-5121

Joseph R. Pitts 16th District 202-225-2411

Todd Platts 19th District 202-225-5836

Allyson Y. Schwartz 13th District 202-225-6111

Don Sherwood 10th District 202-225-3731

Bill Franklin Shuster 9th District 202-225-2431

Curt Weldon 7th District 202-225-2011

US SENATORS FROM PENNSYLVANIA

Arlen Specter 202-224-4254

Rick Santorum 202-224-6324

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