Senate May Invoke Cloture Rule to Block Filibuster

The showdown over the Patriot Act is happening now. This Week. And it may all play out on the floor of Congress. Even though there is strong bipartisan support for real reform of the Patriot Act the Bush administation has managed to strong arm lawmakers and once again take away our civil liberties, remove the rights of privacy of innocent americans, and defeat the checks and balances built into our system of government that would prevent the kind of abuses the Bush administration wishes to perpetuate on the American people.

We all understand that any bill will be the product of compromise and therefore far from perfect. But a group of lawmakers, including Senate Judicatory Chairman Arlen Specter, who at first seemed the best champion of reform, have caved in to White House pressure and signed the conference committee report.  This report leaves the legislation severely flawed because it rejects a common sense reform to require that there be some connection, some existing link, between private records about ordinary Americans and a suspected foreign terrorist before such records are secretly gathered by the FBI.

John Sununu (R-NH), Larry Craig (R-ID), Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Dick Durbin (D-IL), Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Ken Salazar (D-CO) -- has said they will filibuster any reauthorization bill unless it contains real reforms to protect civil liberties.Senate leaders are expected to invoke the cloture rule, which would prohibit a filibuster on the vote. We need you to call your Senators right now and tell them to vote against cloture, support the filibuster and oppose any Patriot Act reauthorization bill that does not include real reforms.

Please take action! Go to the ACLU's Action Page to find your Senators and Call Now!

Also send your friends an E-Card from the ACLU to get them involved as well.