STATEMENT OF MARK CORALLO, DIRECTOR OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS,
ON THE USA PATRIOT ACT:

“The PATRIOT Act has been one of the most important tools the Congress provided to law enforcement to prevent terrorist attacks. After six weeks of intense scrutiny, negotiation, and debate, the Congress passed the Act by overwhelmingly bipartisan margins in both the House of Representatives and Senate. In fact, the reason the Act passed by 98-1 in the Senate and 357-66 in the House was largely due to the fact that Congress understood that this important legislation would respect civil liberties while protecting the lives of the American people from terrorism. As Senator Schumer said during the debate of the Act, ‘If there is one key word that underscores this bill, it is “balance.”... The balance between the need to update our laws given the new challenges and the need to maintain our basic freedoms which distinguish us from our enemies is real.’

“We share the Congress’ commitment to defend and strengthen civil liberties. To date, both the courts and the Congress have found the government’s use of the PATRIOT Act to be appropriate and thoroughly respectful of the liberties enshrined in the Constitution. Those who would seek to repeal or water down the important tools in the PATRIOT Act would return America to the level of vulnerability to terrorist attack that existed prior to September 11, 2001.

“It is important to note that many of those in and out of Congress who now advocate weakening the law, opposed many of the measures in the 1996 Anti-Terrorism Act passed by Congress and signed by then-President Clinton. They believed then that the government already had too much authority to investigate and prevent terrorist activity.”

NOTE: For more information about the PATRIOT Act, please visit www.lifeandliberty.gov.

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