Abercrombie Condemns Patriot Act Renewal
Neil Abercrombie is leaving his position as Congressman for the 1st district in Hawaii in order to run for Governor of that state. However, as one of his last acts as a member of the House of Representatives, Abercrombie defied the Democratic Party leadership to vote against a legislative amendment to extend the worst abuses of the Patriot Act without reform.
“These provisions have opened the door to the invasion of people’s privacy in the past. They are unnecessary and they do nothing to make us safer,” Abercrombie said. Explaining his vote, Abercrombie condemned the bill, signed into law by President Obama over the weekend: “Instead of carefully and thoughtfully strengthening laws that actually work to thwart terrorists, we’re giving government a blank check to trample civil liberties.”
The Bill of Rights Defense Committee joined Representative Abercrombie’s opposition to the Patriot Act extension. Writing for the BoRDC, Andrea Flores explained, “The PATRIOT Act, which was rushed through Congress amid fear in the weeks following the 9/11 attacks, has never included necessary safeguards for privacy and civil liberties. It dramatically expanded government authority to monitor its citizens and has lead to intrusions on our right to privacy. It is unacceptable that Congress and the President have allowed these violations to continue for nearly nine years.”
