House Judiciary Committee passes USA PATRIOT Amendments Act of 2009

The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee passed the USA PATRIOT Amendments Act of 2009 (H.R. 3845) today with a vote of 16-10 after two days of lengthy debate.

Numerous amendments were offered during the debate, including an amendment from Rep. Gallegly (R-CA) that would have stripped the library exception completely from the bill. During the debate on this amendment, Reps. Watt (D-NC) and Nadler (D-NY) voiced support for libraries, and the amendment failed in a party-line vote of 21-13.

We are awaiting the release of the official language and will post additional information after further analysis. It is unclear when this bill will go to the House floor for a vote, and there are other pending bills including a bill from the House Intelligence Committee as well as a bill introduced by Rep. Holt (D-NJ).

Stay tuned!

Lynne Bradley
director, Office of Government Relations