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Looks like they may actually pass something... hell.
I had hoped that normal government incompetence would prevent them from
passing something. Well, there's still hope that it'll get clogged up, or that
the courts will toss it out - somehow I think they won't like the idea of
taps without a court order, for instance (giving up a judicial prerogative). I
am also somewhat puzzled by the racketeering law reference - I had thought that
federal racketeering laws allowed civil forfeiture sans conviction (shudder)?
The "funding" for telephone companies sounds suspiciously like funding Digital
Telephony.
-Allen
> School House
> WHITE HOUSE, KEY LAWMAKERS AGREE ON ANTI-TERRORISM PROPOSALS
> Copyright © 1996 Nando.net
> Copyright © 1996 The Associated Press
> WASHINGTON (Aug 1, 1996 09:53 a.m. EDT) -- After wrangling with key
> Republican lawmakers, the White House has won agreement on a package
> of anti-terrorism measures that would expand wiretapping authority and
> tighten airport security.
[...]
> But omitted from the agreement was a central part of Clinton's
> proposals, a study of chemical markers in explosives, called taggants,
> which had been heavily criticized by some Republicans. Also rejected
> was a provision to allow the FBI to get information on suspected
> terrorists from hotels, telephone companies and storage facilities.
[...]
The agreement also would allow prosecution of suspected terrorists
under federal racketeering laws, which would make anyone convicted
subject to asset forfeitures and longer sentences.
> The negotiators, led by Panetta and Sen. Larry Craig, R-Idaho, said
> they hoped to have a package ready for a vote by week's end, before
> Congress leaves for its August recess.
> But Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., said earlier in the
> day that final passage before the recess appeared unlikely. "I don't
> see how in the world we can get it done" by then, Lott told reporters.
> Lott and other GOP leaders summoned Attorney General Janet Reno,
> Panetta and FBI Director Louis Freeh to a meeting today to explain why
> some of the FBI's anti-terrorism funds haven't been spent.
> "We are increasingly concerned that monies and authorities already
> granted to the administration are not being used effectively or at
> all," Lott, House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., and House Majority
> Leader Dick Armey, R-Texas, wrote in a letter to Clinton.
> Justice Department spokesman Myron Marlin said the Republican
> assertions were "misleading."
> Gingrich and Lott also proposed that a blue-ribbon commission review
> the government's anti-terrorism policy -- a move that would delay
> congressional action. The new package includes such a commission for
> longer-term legislative proposals, Craig said.
> He said the lawmakers' aides planned to work through the night to
> draft the proposals into a package that could be put to a vote before
> week's end.
> "I feel very positive at this moment," Craig told reporters Wednesday
> night.
> Craig said the proposals included multipoint wiretaps, which allow law
> enforcement agents to monitor all phone calls made by a suspected
> terrorist, rather than just those from a specific telephone, as well
> as emergency wiretaps, which are valid for 48 hours without a court
> order.
[... yeah, right]
> Craig stressed that the new wiretap provisions would include "some
> privacy language that will protect people."
> Other proposals on which accord was reached include the use of special
> technology to make it easier to trace telephone numbers called by
> suspected terrorists and a trust fund to reimburse phone companies for
> expenses they incur in that area.
> Craig listed the proposals but gave few details, which had yet to be
> worked out.
> Copyright © 1996 Nando.net