Republicans Seek to Widen F.B.I. Powers

Republicans Seek to Widen F.B.I. Powers

By ERIC LICHTBLAU
Published: October 19, 2005
WASHINGTON, Oct. 18 - Senate Republican leaders are pushing once again to expand the Federal Bureau of Investigation's power to demand records in terrorism investigations, as negotiations over the future of the sweeping law known as the USA Patriot Act reach a critical stage, officials said Tuesday.

House and Senate staff members have met behind closed doors four times in the last two weeks to try to iron out differences between bills passed in July extending 16 provisions of the law that expire at the end of the year, the officials said.

Among the more contentious ideas raised in the meetings, participants said in interviews, was the idea of expanding the F.B.I.'s power to issue administrative subpoenas to demand records in terror investigations without a judge's approval. While the expanded powers were in a version of the bill passed earlier this year by the Senate Intelligence Committee, the Senate ultimately rejected the idea.

But in the staff meetings in recent days, aides to Senator Pat Roberts, the Kansas Republican who is chairman of the Intelligence Committee, made clear that they would try again to push through expanding the F.B.I.'s power to demand records. The proposal has the strong backing of the Bush administration.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2005/10/19/politics/19patriot.html?adxnnl=1&adxnnlx=1129723753-bZrde5xPeEOQpdFAaC5Evw
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"So shut up and sit down while we conduct our forensic proctology exam."

Sooner or later they're going to suggest we rename the Capitol Building the Kremlin.

They've already got their police state.

They just want to undermine government by undermining people's faith in it.

If people are afraid of the government all the time, why would they want to pay taxes anymore for one?

And then maybe we can go back to something more 'appropriate', like an oligarchy run by 'the elect'.

This is why they are trying to seize more power.

They are in T.R.O.U.B.L.E.

"The proposal has the strong backing of the Bush administration."

On the one hand, right winger citizens dismiss the FBI as a bunch of incompetents. Then, OTOH, they want to support politicians who are trying to give the FBI even more power?

If these people think expanded powers of the FBI will aid in combating terrorism, they need to wake up and smell the coffee. This is indeed a slippery slope that the Repubs are designing for Joe Six-Pack and his wife, Soccer Suzi.