Title: Patriot Act Extension Signed By Obama | HuffPost
Headings: Patriot Act Extension Signed By Obama
Patriot Act Extension Signed By Obama
Former ACLU head discusses The Patriot Act
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Content: Both were soundly defeated. The more controversial, an amendment that would have restricted powers to obtain gun records in terrorist investigations, was defeated 85-10 after lawmakers received a letter from the National Rifle Association stating that it was not taking a position on the measure. According to a senior Justice Department national security official testifying to Congress last March, the government has sought roving wiretap authority in about 20 cases a year between 2001 and 2010 and has sought warrants for business records less than 40 times a year, on average. The government has yet to use the lone wolf authority. But the ACLU also points out that court approvals for business record access jumped from 21 in 2009 to 96 last year, and the organization contends the Patriot Act has blurred the line between investigations of actual terrorists and those not suspected of doing anything wrong. Two Democratic critics of the Patriot Act, Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Udall of Colorado, on Thursday extracted a promise from Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., that she would hold hearings with intelligence and law enforcement officials on how the law is being carried out. Wyden says that while there are numerous interpretations of how the Patriot Act works, the official government interpretation of the law remains classified. “ A significant gap has developed now between what the public thinks the law says and what the government secretly claims it says,” Wyden said. Former ACLU head discusses The Patriot Act
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Associated Press writers Laurie Kellman and Pete Yost contributed to this report.