Positions and Views of Mike Crapo
on Civil Rights
| Currently Elected United States Senator, Idaho |
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| Civil Rights |
Positions and Views |
| USA Patriot Act |
Idaho Senator Mike Crapo voted today to invoke cloture on debate of the USA PATRIOT and Terrorism Prevention Reauthorization Act of 2005, which would allow the Senate to vote on extending expiring provisions in the law. The Act contains provisions that will expire Dec. 31 unless the Senate approves an extension. Cloture is a Senate procedure requiring 60 votes that allows the Senate to end debate on an issue and move to a vote on the actual bill. Because the cloture vote failed on a vote of 52-47, there will not be a vote on passing the reauthorization measure at this time. Following the vote, Crapo issued the following statement:
"The PATRIOT Act was first enacted to protect Americans against terrorism," said Crapo. "This revised version meets that goal while protecting our privacy and civil liberties. The tools this bill provides are necessary to winning the war on terrorism and keeping that fight off our soil. I have spent many hours reviewing and discussing this legislation and ultimately made the decision to support the bill. Because I respect the many Idahoans who have taken the time and effort to share their objections with me, I want to take this opportunity to explain why I came to my decision."
"I voted for the PATRIOT Act in 2001, which overwhelmingly passed both houses of Congress. In 2003, I joined with the Idaho Congressional delegation to sponsor the original SAFE Act with the goal to refine--not reject--the PATRIOT Act."
"Today I supported this reauthorization measure because it contains many of the refinements from the original SAFE Act. It maintains the necessary tools for intelligence and law enforcement, but it enacts important safeguards to prevent these tools from being used for unintended purposes. After discussing the operational results of the Act with Attorney General Gonzales and others and reviewing the oversight work performed by the Judiciary Committee, it is clear there are no documented cases of infringement on the civil lib [Response was truncated to maximum response length of 2000 characters.]
Source: Candidate Website (10/02/2004) |
| These are available issue topics for which there were no responses. |
| Civil Rights, a General Statement |
| Women's Issues |
| Hate Crimes |
| Human Rights |
| Equal Rights Amendment |
| Persons with Disabilities |
| Property Rights vs. Civil Rights |
| Privacy |
| National Security Agency (NSA) Electronic Surveillance of US Citizens |
| Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board |
| Anti-semitism |