Bill Number: S 236
Bill Title: To require reports to Congress on Federal agency use of data mining.
Status: Introduced by Senators Russell Feingold (D-WI), John Sununu (R-NH), Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) on January 10, 2007 and referred to the Judiciary Committee. On March 15, the Judiciary Committee considered the bill, and held a mark-up session. Reported out of committee by Senator Leahy on June 4 and placed on Senate calendar. No. 184.
List of Co-sponsors

Additional Information: Statement by Senator Feingold on the Senate floor.

Bill Number: S. Res 22
Status: Submitted January 10, 2007 and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs. On June 13, 2007, it was favorably reported out of the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs without amendment.
Sponsor: Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)
List of Co-sponsors

Senator Collins' resolution is an effort to clarify a bill she co-sponsored, which passed in the waning days of the 109th Congress (H.R. 6407, the Postal Accountability and Enhancement Act). In response to President Bush's recent signing statement which asserts the right of the President to open mail without a warrant, Senator Collins said, "I want to be perfectly clear: Nothing in the Postal Reform Act, nor the President’s signing statement alters the privacy and civil liberties protections provided to a person who sends or receives sealed mail. Mail sealed against inspection is entitled to the strongest possible protections against physical searches. With only very limited exceptions, the government needs a court-issued warrant before it can search mail.”"

Additional Information

• Statement by Sen. Collins on the Senate floor.
  

Bill Number: H.R. 1255 (House); S. 886 (Senate)
Status: Introduced on March 9, 2007. Passed the House on March 14, 2007 by a 333-93 vote. Roll Call 143

In the Senate -- Introduced on March 14, 2007. Assigned to Committee on Homeland Security and Government Affairs. Reported out of committee on June 20 by Senator Joseph Lieberman (I-CT) with amendment. Placed on Senate Legislative Calendar No. 212.
Sponsor: In the House: Representative Henry Waxman (D-CA-30th)

In the Senate: Senator Jeff Bingaman (D-NM)
List of House Co-sponsors
List of Senate Co-sponsors

This is a bi-partisan measure that repeals Executive Order 13233, issued by President Bush in 2001, which closed presidential records from public view. Ironically, the presidential records of former President George H.W. Bush would have been among the first released in 2001, had his son, George W. Bush not issued the executive order.

Watch video of March 1 hearing of the Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives on the Presidential Records Act.

Bill Number: H.R. 264
Status: Introduced on January 5, 2007. Referred to the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Sponsors: Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX-18th)
List of Co-sponsors

This bill addresses the arguably overused executive practice of issuing an extraordinary number of signing statements, exerting presidential authority over bills passed Congress. Read more about the effect of recent signing statements.

Bill Numbers: S. 513 (Senate); H.R. 869 (House)
Status:  

In the Senate -- Read twice; referred to the Armed Services Committee 2/7/07. Senate Judiciary Hearings held on April 24, 2007.                

In the House -- Referred to the House Armed Services Committee 2/7/07
Sponsors:  In the Senate -- Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
                In the House -- Representative Tom Davis (R-VA-11th)
List of Co-sponsors for S. 513
List of Co-sponsors for H.R. 869

This bill is a bi-partisan effort to carve out a troubling piece of the John Warner Defense Authorization Act of 2007, which gave the President power to command the National Guard. Senator Leahy's bill would restore that command to the governor of each state. A nearly identical bill, H.R. 869 has been introduced in the House of Representatives by Republican Tom Davis from Virginia.

Bill Numbers: H.R. 3045 (House); S. 1747 (Senate)
Status:
In the House: Introduced on July 16, 2007 and referred to the House Judiciary Committee.
In the Senate: Introduced on June 29, 2007 and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Sponsor:
In the House: Rep. Carol Shea-Porter (D-NH-1)
In the Senate: Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA)

List of House Co-sponsors
List of Senate Co-sponsors

This bill, introduced in identical version in both House and Senate, attempts to prevent Presidential Signing Statements from taking on the force of law, as occasionally used by courts in determining the intent of the law. Congress wants to hold that distinction for itself through this legislation.

Full text is available through the Bill Summary page (above), but here is a quote from the legislation describing its intent: "Much more recently, some courts have begun using presidential signing statements as a source of authority in the interpretation of Acts of Congress. This judicial use of presidential signing statements is inappropriate, because it in effect gives these statements the force of law. As the Supreme Court itself has explained, Article I, section 7, of the Constitution provides a `single, finely wrought and exhaustively considered, procedure' for the making of Federal law. I.N.S. v. Chadha, 462 U.S. 919, 951 (1983). Presidential signing statements are not passed by both Houses of Congress pursuant to Article I, section 7, so they are not the supreme law of the land. It is inappropriate, therefore, for courts to rely on presidential signing statements as a source of authority in the interpretation of Acts of Congress."

Bill Number: S. 1469
Status: Introduced May 23, 2007, read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.
Sponsor: Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA)
List of Co-sponsors

This bill requires the closure of the detention facility at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba starting within 120 days of its enactment. The bill requires that:

• all funding to Guantánamo be cut off, except funds used to transfer detainees
• if charged or sentenced, detainees be transferred to Fort Leavenworth
• if uncharged, detainees be transferred back to their home countries or other nations where they are not at risk of torture

Read Bill text.

Read an article by the ACLU concerning the bill and an article in which the ACLU ties the recent suicide at Guantánamo to a need for the passage of S. 1469.

Bill Number: H.R. 2212
Status: Introduced May 8, 2007, referred to the House Committee on Armed Services.
Sponsor: Representative Jane Harman (D-CA)
List of Co-sponsors

The bill is the House companion legislation to the Senate bill introduced by Senator Feinstein (D-CA), S 1249 discussed above.

Read Bill text.

Read a press release on Representative Harman's website.

Read an article about the bill from The Jurist.

Bill Number: H.R. 2826
Status: Introduced 6/22/07. Referred to the Committee on the Judiciary, and the Committee on Armed Services. Hearing held on July 26, 2007 with witnesses, including Stephen Abraham, Lt. Colonel in the US Army Reserves, who has questioned the fairness of procedures in the Combatant Status Review Tribunals.

Sponsor: Rep. Ike Skelton (D-MO-4)
List of Co-sponsors

H.R. 2826 proposes to restore the right of habeas corpus to all detainees housed at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

• US Lawmakers Push to Restore Habeas 6/25/07

Bill Number: H.R. 267
Status: Introduced January 5, 2007. Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
Sponsors: Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX-18th)
List of Co-sponsors

This bill amends title 28, United States Code, to repeal the restriction on the jurisdiction of courts, justices, and judges to hear or consider applications for writs of habeas corpus filed by or on behalf of certain aliens detained by the United States. It is related to Senate Bill 185, co-sponsored by Senators Specter and Leahy, though the two bills are not identical.

Bill Number: H.R. 1189
Status: Introduced February 16, 2007. Referred to the Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, and Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker.
Sponsor: Representative David Wu (D-OR-1st)
List of Co-sponsors

This two-sentence bill is aimed at one part of the Military Commissions Act -- to guarantee the right of habeas corpus to all U.S. residents. Nothing in the act "shall affect the right of any resident of the United States of America to habeas corpus." Though some say that Wu's bill is unnecessary, others recall that immediately after the passage of the Military Commissions Act, the Bush Administration announced that the President can and will use the bill to indefinitely detain non-citizens in the United States.

Wu remembers as a six-year-old when people "disappeared" as Japanese-Americans were imprisoned in the U.S. during World War II. He said, ""I remember people talking about folks who were taken away in the dead of night.""

Additional Information:

• Wu Works to Protect Residents if Detained

Bill Number: H.R. 1415
Status: Introduced on March 8, 2007 and referred to Committee on Armed Services, and in addition to the Committees on the Judiciary, and Foreign Affairs.
Sponsor: Representatives Jerrold Nadler (D-NY-8th) and Jane Harman (D-CA-36th)
List of Co-sponsors

Like S. 576, the Restoring the Constitution Act of 2007 in the Senate, H.R. 1415 selects a number of provisions from the Military Commissions Act for overhaul.

• It restores habeas corpus,
• Narrows the definition of enemy combatant,
• Restricts the government from conducting torture and from using torture to compel testimony that can be used in court,
• Makes it clear the U.S. government must abide by the Geneva Conventions,
• Ensures that regardless of rank, no U.S. personnel can commit torture without consequences.

Bill Number: S 576
Status: Introduced on February 13, 2007, read twice and referred to the Committee on Armed Services.
Sponsor: Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-CT)
List of Co-sponsors

The bill's purpose is to restore the right of habeas corpus and other constitutional protections that were stripped via the 2006 Military Commissions Act.

Additional Information

• Read statement from Senator Dodd, as he introduced this bill along with co-sponsors Russ Feingold (D-WI), Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Robert Menendez (R-NJ).
• View Dodd's statement via broadband or dial-up.
• Read text of S 576.
• Jurist, Dodd Introduces Bill to Restore Habeas Corpus (2/14/07)
• Secrecy News, Tempo of Congressional Oversight Increases (2/14/07)
• Washington Post, Bill Would Restore Detainees' Rights, Define Combatants (2/13/07)

Bill Number: H.R. 1416
Status: Introduced March 8, 2007. Referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary, and to the Committee on Armed Services.
Sponsors: Representatives Jerrold Nadler (D-NY-8th) and Jane Harman (D-CA-36th)
List of Co-sponsors

This bill is similar to the Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007 introduced in the Senate, which seeks to restore habeas corpus.

Read News account of this bill's introduction.

Rep. Nadler, chair of the Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties, has promised to hold hearings on H.R. 1416 to move this bill out of committee and into Congressional action.

Read Statement by Rep. Nadler on H.R. 1416.

 

Bill Number: S 185
Sponsors: Senators Arlen Specter (R-PA) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT)
Status: Introduced on January 4, 2007. On June 7, it passed the Senate Judiciary Committee by a vote of 11-8 (with Specter as the lone Republican supporter) and on June 26, placed on Senate Legislative Calendar No. 220.
List of co-sponsors

This bill restores habeas corpus for those detained by the United States. It is similar to, but not identical to H.R. 267, a bill sponsored in the House by Representative Sheila Jackson-Lee (D-TX-18th).

Unfortunately, restoration of habeas corpus alone will not fix what's wrong with the Military Commissions Act. Much more must be addressed, including the President's sole authority for naming "enemy combatants," the President's sole authority for interpreting Geneva Conventions, the use of evidence gained through torture and coercion, and allowing individuals to be held indefinitely without trial.

Additional Information:

• Statement by Sen. Specter on the Senate floor.
• Download a flyer that explains what needs to be done to fix the Military Commissions Act. (PDF, Word)

Bill Number: H.R. 2543
Status: Introduced May 24, 2007, referred to the House Committee on Armed Services and the House Committee on the Judiciary. On June 25, 2007, referred to the Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties.
Sponsor: Representative Loretta Sanchez (D-CA)
List of Co-sponsors

The bill amends the Military Commissions Act of 2006 by defining the term "unlawful enemy combatant," excluding evidence obtained by coercion, and providing some habeas corpus protections.

Read Bill text.

Bill Number: H.R. 1117
Status: Introduced 2/16/07. Referred to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and in addition to the Committee on the Judiciary, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned.
Sponsor: Rep. Thomas H. Allen (D-ME-1st)
List of Co-sponsors

The purpose of this bill is to repeal title II of the REAL ID Act of 2005, to reinstitute section 7212 of the Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004, which provides States additional regulatory flexibility and funding authorization to more rapidly produce tamper- and counterfeit-resistant driver's licenses and to protect privacy and civil liberties by providing interested stakeholders on a negotiated rulemaking with guidance to achieve improved 21st century licenses to improve national security.

Bill Number: S 563
Status:Introduced on 2/13/07. Read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Sponsor: Senator Susan Collins (R-ME)
List of Co-sponsors

The purpose of this bill is to extend the deadline by which State identification documents shall comply with certain minimum standards under REAL ID.

Some conservative groups, such as the CATO Institute, have accused Senator Collins of proposing a delay in implementation in order to save REAL ID. According to CATO, delaying implementation helps a national ID go forward by giving the companies and organizations that sustain themselves on these kinds of projects time to shake the federal money tree and get this $11 billion surveillance mandate funded. Click here to read related article from the CATO Institute.

Even the Bush Administration has signed on to the delay tactic, as evidenced by this Washington Post article.

Bill Number: S. 717
Status:Introduced on February 28, 2007, read twice and referred to Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sponsors: Senators Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and John Sununu (R-NH)
List of Co-sponsors

Senators Akaka and Sununu teamed up in a bi-partisan effort to roll back provisions of REAL ID in the 109th Congress, and have reprised that bill in the 110th. It is praised by civil liberties groups as one that will add important safeguards regarding privacy and civil liberties to the Real ID Act. Click here to read ACLU news release on S. 717.

Bill Number: S 1943
Status: Introduced on August 2, 2007 and referred to the Committee on Judiciary.
Sponsor: Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-MA)
Co-sponsors

Bill Number: H.R. 1352
Status: Introduced on March 6, 2007 and referred to the House Committee on Foreign Affairs.
Sponsor:Representative Edward J. Markey (D-MA-7th)
List of Co-sponsors

The purpose of H.R. 1352 is to prohibit the return or other transfer of persons by the United States, for the purpose of detention, interrogation, trial, or otherwise, to countries where torture or other inhuman treatment of persons occurs.

Additional Information:

• Read Rep. Markey's Fact Sheet on Rendition.
• Read list of 44 original co-sponsors.
• Read Rep. Markey's Statement about H.R. 1352.
• Read news article Democrats Renew Arar Fight March 6, 2007.
• Read news article Markey bill to ban 'extraordinary rendition' aimed at stopping torture March 6, 2007.

Bill Number: H.R. 2082
Status: Introduced in House May 1, 2007. Passed House May 11, 2007 225-197 Passed Senate on October 3, 2007 by unanimous consent. Sent to Conference Committee. Thirty retired admirals and generals had written a letter in mid-December, urging Congress to ignore Bush's threat to veto the bill and to pass legislation to ban waterboarding. House passed (222-199) a version on December 13, 2007 with a provision prohibiting the use of any interrogation technique not found in the Army Field Manual. On February 13, 2008, the Senate approved the conference report, 51-45 with the interrogation procedure prohibition intact. On March 8, 2008, the President fulfilled his promise to veto the bill. On March 11, a House vote of 225-188 failed to achieve the two-thirds majority needed to override the veto.

Sponsor: Rep. Silvestre Reyes (D-TX-16th)
Co-sponsors

The bill includes Section 327, which limits interrogation techniques. Here is the exact wording:

• (a) Limitation- No individual in the custody or under the effective control of an element of the intelligence community or instrumentality thereof, regardless of nationality or physical location, shall be subject to any treatment or technique of interrogation not authorized by the United States Army Field Manual on Human Intelligence Collector Operations.
• (b) Instrumentality Defined- In this section, the term `instrumentality', with respect to an element of the intelligence community, means a contractor or subcontractor at any tier of the element of the intelligence community.

Bill Number: S. 1876
Status: Introduced on July 25, 2007 and referred to Senate Judiciary Committee.
Sponsor: Senator Joseph Biden (D-DE)
List of Co-sponsors

A bill to prohibit extraterritorial detention and rendition, except under limited circumstances, to modify the definition of "unlawful enemy combatant" for purposes of military commissions, and to extend statutory habeas corpus to detainees.

Senator Biden is chair of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. A hearing on "Extraordinary Rendition, Extraterritorial Detention, And Treatment Of Detainees: Restoring Our Moral Credibility And Strengthening Our Diplomatic Standing" was held on July 26, 2007, with these witnesses:

• Tom Malinowski, Human Rights Watch
• Major General Paul Eaton, USA (Ret.), former Commanding General of the Office of Security Transition in Iraq
• Dr. Philip Zelikow, History Professor at the University of Virginia
• Dr. Daniel Byman, Director, Center for Peace and Security Studies at Georgetown University

Bill Number: H.R. 985
Status: Introduced February 12, 2007. Passed the House on March 14 by a vote of 331-94. Roll Call 153. On March 15, 2007, it was received in the Senate, read twice and referred to the Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.
Sponsor: Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA-30th)
List of Co-sponsors

This bill would amend title 5, United States Code, clarifying which disclosures of information are protected from prohibited personnel practices and requiring a statement in nondisclosure policies, forms, and agreements to the effect that such policies, forms, and agreements are consistent with certain disclosure protections.

Additional Information:

• Read Testimony from February 13, 2007 hearing in the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
• View a trailer for the film "Kill the Messenger," about former FBI employee Sibel Edmonds' whistleblowing on FBI work practices and security breaches pre-9/11.

Bill Number: H.R. 3138
Status: Introduced July 24, 2007 and referred to both the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees.
Sponsor: Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM-1st)
List of Cosponsors

Rep. Heather Wilson's bill is one page in length, but makes subtle yet far-reaching changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). Though she merely defines "electronic surveillance," the definition itself suggests that the National Security Agency (NSA) can continue its secret programs that tap the phone and email conversations of U.S. residents simply because what they're doing will no longer be considered "electronic surveillance" if H.R. 3138 is passed. It gives the NSA the ability to determine what's a domestic call, and what is not.

As long as you're not the subject of a search, you should feel relief, right? Wrong. According to H.R. 3138, as long as the government doesn't target a specific person with "electronic surveillance," it should be able to search anyone's phone and email conversations. This bill is being given a hard push before the August recess, with the assumption that any member of Congress who doesn't vote for it isn't willing to do all that it takes to stop terrorism, even though the Administration has refused repeatedly to provide key information to Congress on its NSA wiretapping program(s).

Additional Information:

• Bush Wants Terrorism Law Updated Washington Post, July 28, 2007
• Bush Administration Withholds Key Information on Surveillance Raw Story July 25, 2007
• Most Wanted Surveillance Documents, Center for Democracy and Technology
• Most Wanted Surveillance Answers, Center for Democracy and Technology

Bill Number: H.R. 11
Status: Introduced on January 4, 2007. Referred to the Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security on 2/2/07.
Sponsors: Representative Adam Schiff (D-CA-29th) and Representative Jeff Flake (R-AZ-6th)
List of Co-sponsors

This bill reiterates that chapters 119 and 121 of title 18, United States Code, and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 are the exclusive means by which domestic electronic surveillance may be conducted.

Additional Information:

• Text of the bill.

Bill Number: S 139
Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary on January 4, 2007.
Sponsor: Senator Charles Schumer (D-NY)
List of Co-sponsors

The purpose of S 139 is to expedite review by the Supreme Court of the warrantless electronic surveillance program of the National Security Agency.

Bill Number: S 187
Status: Read twice and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee on January 4, 2007.
Sponsor: Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA)
List of Co-sponsors

S 187 is a bill to provide sufficient resources to permit electronic surveillance of United States persons for foreign intelligence purposes to be conducted pursuant to individualized court-issued orders for calls originating in the United States, to provide additional resources to enhance oversight and streamline the procedures of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978, to ensure review of the Terrorist Surveillance Program by the United States Supreme Court.

Additional Information: Statement by Sen. Specter on the Senate floor.

Bill Number: S. 1114
Status: Introduced on April 16, 2007, read twice and referred to Committee on the Judiciary.
Sponsor: Senator Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) with Senator Arlen Specter (R-PA)
List of Co-sponsors

Major Provisions of S 1114:

Attempts to close some of the loopholes used by the Bush Administration to ignore FISA as the "exclusive means by which electronic surveillance may be conducted."

Grants significant latitude to the Department of Justice to conduct emergency surveillance without using FISA -- extending from 3 days to 7 days the amount of time it can conduct surveillance without a warrant and extending from 15 to 30 days the amount of time the executive branch is allowed to conduct surveillance without a warrant, 1) in a national emergency, 2) after a Congressional declaration of war, or 3) with Congressional authorization to use military force.

Requires the President to brief Congressional intelligence committees on the so-called "Terrorist Surveillance Program," (TSP) commonly known as warrantless wiretapping -- and to report to Congress any other program that involves electronic surveillance.

Provides a means for the Supreme Court to rule on the constitutionality of the TSP or any other such electronic surveillance program.

Allows the Attorney General to appoint individuals in the FBI and National Security Agency to approve electronic surveillance warrants on an emergency basis.

S. 1114 clearly poses an alternative to recent Bush Administration plans, announced only days before S. 1114 was introduced in Congress. The administration hopes to reconstruct FISA in ways that would further expand executive powers, proposing to:

• monitor foreign nationals without approval from the FISA Court;
• lower the standards of proof required for obtaining phone call and email information through FISA Court orders;
• extend FISA surveillance warrants from 120 days to one year;
• indemnify phone companies from privacy invasion lawsuits related to their cooperation with warrantless wiretapping programs; and
• allow intelligence officers to conduct surveillance without a FISC court order for one week in emergency situations (previously a 72-hour permission).

For more information on Bush Administration plans to expand FISA see these articles:

• Bush Administration Urges Changes to FISA (Apr 20 - NPR)
• U.S. Intelligence Chief Circulates Proposed FISA Amendments (Apr 11 - Jurist)