Opponents of the Act have been quite vocal in asserting that it was passed opportunistically after the September 11 attacks , believing that there would have been little debate . They view the Act as one that was hurried through the Senate with little change before it was passed . ( Senators Patrick Leahy and Russ Feingold proposed amendments to modify the final revision . ) The sheer magnitude of the Act itself was noted by Michael Moore in his controversial film '' Fahrenheit 9/11 '' . In one of the scenes of the movie , he records Congressman Jim McDermott alleging that no Senator had read the bill and John Conyers , Jr. as saying , " We do n't read most of the bills . Do you really know what that would entail if we read every bill that we passed ? " Congressman Conyers then answers his own rhetorical question , asserting that if they did it would " slow down the legislative process " . As a dramatic device , Moore then hired an ice-cream van and drove around Washington , D.C. with a loud speaker , reading out the Act to puzzled passers-by , which included a few Senators
September 11 attacks
September 11 attacks
Patriot Act