Caroline Fredrickson Act Quotations

These sections of the act are extremely crucial. We have a nationwide campaign going on. (Renewing them) is a priority.

The right to vote is the foundation of our democracy, and an essential protection of that right is the Voting Rights Act. Every voice must be heard and every vote must be counted. State and local governments continue to adopt voting laws, practices and procedures that deny equal access to voting - without the Voting Rights Act, there would be little protection against these efforts to deny some of us our right to vote. The Voting Rights Act is necessary to help ensure that every American citizen is able to exercise the franchise.

Serious problems remain in the Patriot Act that require serious reforms. Unfortunately, the proposed changes to the reauthorization bill do not correct the secret record search powers and do not require that there be any individualized suspicion of wrongdoing by Americans before their financial, medical, library or other records can be searched. Common sense reforms could have required that records sought be connected to a suspected terrorist or terrorist organization. We will continue to press for these and other needed reforms to protect American freedoms.

Serious problems remain in the Patriot Act that require serious reforms.

Regardless of what happens with this agreement, Congress can, and must fix the Patriot Act to better protect the privacy and freedom of ordinary Americans. At the same time, until the Bush administration stops the illegal NSA program to spy on Americans and stops ignoring the rule of law, any reforms to the Patriot Act could be ignored under the extreme philosophy of power embraced by this president. No matter the result of the Patriot Act, we hope all senators involved in these negotiations will resist pressure from the administration. Congress must restore the rule of law and insist that innocent Americans' rights be protected against the overreaching of the White House. We can, and must, be both safe and free.

Our government is based upon a separation of powers and a system of checks and balances. The actions taken by the president undermine the very foundations of our country. We urge the relevant Congressional committees to investigate how the president abused his power as our chief executive. We applaud Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter for committing to hold oversight hearings. The American people deserve to know the truth.

The Patriot Act debate is far from over, and we will continue to fight for reforms to protect civil liberties. While Congress failed to adopt much-needed reforms to the law to better protect freedom and privacy, lawmakers also rejected pressure from the White House to include significant and unwarranted expansions of government power. We applaud those fair-minded lawmakers that have fought to bring the law in line with the Constitution, and together, we will continue to push for reforms to keep America safe and free.