<div dir="ltr">FYI,<div><br></div><div>Suzanne L. Sager</div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: <b class="gmail_sendername">Don Wood</b> <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:dwood@ala.org">dwood@ala.org</a>></span><br>Date: Mon, May 18, 2015 at 1:24 PM<br>Subject: [alacro-l] Take Action: Contact Your Senators and Representatives about USA Freedom Act<br>To: "<a href="mailto:alacro-l@lists.ala.org">alacro-l@lists.ala.org</a>" <<a href="mailto:alacro-l@lists.ala.org">alacro-l@lists.ala.org</a>><br><br><br>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Last week, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed (338 – 88) the USA FREEDOM Act of 2015 (H.R. 2048):
the first real reform of the USA PATRIOT Act in well over a decade. The bill will finally end the "bulk collection" of Americans’ library, phone and many other personal records under Section 215 (a.k.a. the "library provision") of the PATRIOT Act and also
will for the first time enable meaningful legal challenge of the FBI’s National Security Letters and the gag orders that accompany them.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">But . . . to become law, H.R. 2048 also has to clear the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky
wants to just extend the current privacy-invasive law for five years without any changes at all. If he can't do that, Senator McConnell and other "surveillance hawks" want to relieve public pressure on the Senate by passing a short-term extension of current
law without reforms so that they can amend the "USA FREEDOM Act later to make it toothless (like the House did last year) or to add awful new "poison pill" provisions that would cause groups like ALA and many major corporations to withdraw support of an otherwise
positive bill.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Congress is scheduled to leave town
<i>this Thursday</i> for a Memorial Day recess that will extend beyond the June 1 expiration of Section 215 of the PATRIOT Act, so this week will likely decide the fate of the broadest NSA reform in 14 years.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif""><a href="http://cqrcengage.com/ala/app/write-a-letter?0&engagementId=101158" target="_blank">Don't let the USA FREEDOM Act "die"
in the senate again this year! Contact the offices of both your Senators -- and your Representative in the House -- TODAY. Please tell them</a>:<u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">Senators: PASS H.R. 2048 (or its twin, S. 1123) NOW without any weakening amendments
<b>AND </b>immediately <i>publicly </i>OPPOSE <i>any </i>extension of the PATRIOT Act beyond June 1,
<u>no matter how short.</u><u></u><u></u></span></li><li class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">epresentative: SPEAK OUT PUBLICLY
<i>today </i>against extension of the PATRIOT ACT <i>for any period of time</i> without real reform. Senators need to hear "loud and clear" that even a short-term extension of the PATRIOT Act will be "DOA" in the House, and thus pointless to pass, or they'll
just "kick the can" down the road as Sen. McConnell has twice proposed and continues to push.<u></u><u></u></span></li></ul>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">With Section 215's expiration date and a Congressional recess looming, NOW is the critical time to push for
passage of the USA FREEDOM Act For more information, see <a href="http://www.districtdispatch.org/2015/05/ending-bulk-collection-of-library-records-on-the-line-in-looming-senate-vote/" target="_blank">
<i><span style="color:blue">District Dispatch</span></i></a>, and please, call both of your
<i>Senators and Representative </i>today.<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:"Times New Roman","serif"">We submit your correspondence through officials' contact forms and therefore must provide the information
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<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">Don Wood<br>
Program Officer<br>
<a href="http://www.ala.org/ala/aboutala/offices/cro/index.cfm" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">Chapter Relations Office</span></a><br>
American Library Association<br>
50 East Huron Street<br>
Chicago, IL 60611<br>
<a href="mailto:dwood@ala.org" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">dwood@ala.org</span></a><br>
<a href="tel:1-800-545-2433%2C%20ext.%202429" value="+18005452433" target="_blank">1-800-545-2433, ext. 2429</a>; <a href="tel:312-280-2429" value="+13122802429" target="_blank">312-280-2429</a><br>
<a href="tel:312-280-4392" value="+13122804392" target="_blank">312-280-4392</a> (fax)<br>
<a href="https://www.facebook.com/ALAChapters" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">Become a Fan of ALA Chapters</span></a><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><a href="http://cqrcengage.com/ala/home" target="_blank"><span style="color:blue">Take Action for America’s Libraries</span></a><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d"><u></u> <u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="color:#1f497d">“Example is not the main thing in influencing others. It is the only thing.”—Albert Schweitzer</span><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
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</div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><span style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Suzanne L. Sager</span><div><span style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Oregon ALA Representative</span><div><span style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Portland State University Library</span><br style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><span style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">PO Box 1151</span><br style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><span style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Portland, OR 97207-1151</span><br style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><br style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><span style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Phone: </span><a value="+15037258169" style="color:rgb(0,0,204);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">503-725-8169</a><br style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><span style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">Fax: </span><a value="+15037255799" style="color:rgb(0,0,204);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">503-725-5799</a><br style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><br style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"><span style="color:rgb(136,136,136);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)">email: </span><a href="mailto:sagers@pdx.edu" style="color:rgb(0,0,204);font-family:arial,sans-serif;font-size:13px;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)" target="_blank">sagers@pdx.edu</a></div></div></div></div>
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