House Republicans plan to revive portions of the Justice Department's ``Patriot Act II'' draft in legislation to address the Sept. 11 commission's recommendations to strengthen America intelligence capabilities, The Associated Press has learned. In a draft of the House GOP legislation obtained by The Associated Press, many of the provisions were similar to the draft copy of the ``Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003'' that a nonprofit group said had leaked out of the Justice Department in January 2003. The Justice Department said then that they had made no final decision on the legislation, and never submitted it to Congress.
But many of the better anti-terrorism provisions of that draft show up in the the House discussion draft section on terrorism prevention and prosecution that part of the proposed House legislation. Among the provisions are measures on the deportation of aliens who become members of or help terrorist groups, required pretrial detention for terrorism suspects, warrants against non-citizens even when a target can't be tied directly to a foreign power, and enhanced penalties for threats or attempts to use chemical or nuclear weapons against the United States, including attacks through the mail system. A spokesman for House Majority Leader Tom DeLay, R-Texas, said Wednesday that House members were still working on a final version of the legislation. A Justice Department spokesman said they had not seen the House draft. On Monday, a group of 9/11 widows went door to door trying to get lawmakers to sign a pledge to keep Patriot Act material out of the legislation, saying the politically explosive material could doom the measure.
| This is the small sub-group of LLL widows. I think they're affiliated with the Code Pink crazies. |
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