Patriot Act Measures Fail in House in a National Security Vs Civil Liberties Vote

The U.S. House of Representatives failed to pass Patriot Act extensions Tuesday night. The House's Republican majority failed to get the two-thirds majority vote needed to fast-track, falling seven short on a 277-148 vote. The unsuccessful vote was for three White House-supported measures extending counter-terrorism provisions set to expire Feb. 28, 2011, to the end of the year. The vote came down to national security vs civil liberties, and didn't exactly fall along party lines.

Freshman Tea Party House members, such as Randy Hultgren (R-Ill.), made up eight of the 26 Republicans who voted against the Patriot Act extension. 210 Republicans and 67 Democrats voted in favor of the measures. A majority of Democrats, 122, voted against it.

The failed Patriot Act vote will have no effect on national security if, as it is expected, it is put up for and passes a simple majority vote by the end of the month. The three measures set to expire include the FBI's court-approved roving wiretaps and access to "any tangible thing" pertaining to a terror investigation. These include bank and library records. The third measure permits government surveillance of non-American suspects with no known ties to terrorists.

The argument for the failed Patriot Act measures is that they are vital to the country's national security. Spokeswoman for Majority Whip Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) Erica Elliot commented, "Democrats in Congress voted to deny their own administration's request for key weapons in the war on terror."

The roving wire taps surveillance enable the FBI to listen in on multiple phones of terror suspects. This allows the agency to gather information on potential national security threats, co-conspirators and connections with known terror cells.

The access to tangible records Patriot Act measure allows the government to follow the paper trail of a terror suspect or organization. It can give insight into parts of a terrorist plot and funding sources. This can allow the prevention of threats and lead to the discovery of additional conspirators.

The surveillance of non-U.S. citizen suspects who have no ties to a terror organization allows the government to sniff out "lone wolf" terrorists. These would be terrorists who act on their own motives, with out impetus or support of a terrorist organization. These singular attacks are arguably harder to prevent, because the lack of ties can prevent the FBI from additional intelligence gathering.

Those opposed to the Patriot Act measures, such as Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio), believe the endangerment of civil liberties outweighs the danger to national security.