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07/08/2004:

"White House Moves to Protect Right to Spy on Readers"

WASHINGTON - The White House has gone to preventive war -- to protect the US government's newly-acquired right to spy on readers as part of counterterrorism investigations, promising to veto a multibillion-dollar spending bill if these powers are curtailed.

The shot across the bow was fired Wednesday, ahead of a widely anticipated amendment by Representative Bernie Sanders that would prevent Federal Bureau of Investigation and other government agents from using a secret federal intelligence court to gain access to the reading records of library or bookstore patrons as part of counterterrorism probes.

"We plan to introduce it on the House floor Thursday," Joel Barkin, spokesman for the independent lawmaker, told AFP.

If passed, the measure would be attached to a nearly 40-billion-dollar appropriations bill funding the Departments of Commerce, Justice and State in fiscal 2005.

But the White House will have none of it. Moving to nip the idea in the bud, the presidential Office of Management and Budget made clear it would rather see the whole appropriations bill die than allow changes to the USA Patriot Act.
Full Article : commondreams.org