Patrick Leahy

October 22, 2007 -- WASHINGTON (Monday, Oct. 22) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Ranking Member Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) Monday sent a letter to White House Counsel Fred Fielding again requesting access to documents relevant to the Committee’s upcoming consideration of legislation to amend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).    » read more »

“Strengthening FISA: Does The Protect America Act Protect Americans' Civil Liberties And Enhance Security?”

September 25, 2007 -- The Committee holds this hearing today to consider the Protect America Act, passed in haste in early August.    » read more »

Guard Also Wins As ‘Insurrection Act Rider’ Is Headed For Repeal; Guard Caucus Leaders Leahy And Bond Hail Victories For Empowerment Act

WASHINGTON (September 21) – Two top legislative priorities of the National Guard now are on track as the Senate Thursday night added key components of the National Guard Empowerment Bill to this year’s Defense Authorization Bill.    » read more »

Troop Withdrawal Amendment Dies In 28 To 70 Senate Vote

WASHINGTON (Thursday, Sept. 20) -- In a vote of 28 to 70, the U.S. Senate Thursday afternoon defeated an amendment backed by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) to require the President to begin redeploying U.S. troops from Iraq within 90 days of enactment, with full redeployment by June 30, 2008. The amendment was the strongest amendment on ending U.S. involvement in the Iraq war that has been offered to the annual Defense Authorization Bill, which has been before the Senate all week.    » read more »

WASHINGTON (Thursday, September 20) – Vermont’s Congressional Delegation – Sen. Patrick Leahy (D), Sen. Bernie Sanders (I), and Rep. Peter Welch (D) – issued the following comments in response to President Bush’s news conference statement today that he will veto the conference report renewing the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). The expiration of the program could cause millions of children to lose their health insurance.    » read more »

September 17, 2007 -- The Judiciary Committee will approach consideration of this nomination in a serious and deliberate fashion. The Administration took months determining that a change in leadership was needed at the Department of Justice and then the President spent several weeks before making his nomination public. Our focus now will be on securing the relevant information the Committee needs to proceed to schedule fair and thorough hearings.    » read more »

September 17, 2007 -- "Last year, Congress committed an historic mistake by suspending the Great Writ of habeas corpus — not just for those confined at Guantanamo Bay but for millions of legal residents in the United States. The Senate Judiciary Committee’s hearing in May on this bill illustrated the broad agreement among representatives from diverse political beliefs and backgrounds that the mistake committed in the Military Commissions Act of 2006 must be corrected. The Habeas Corpus Restoration Act of 2007, S.186, the bill on which this amendment is based, has 30 cosponsors.    » read more »

September 17, 2007 -- “The Judiciary Committee will approach consideration of the nomination of an Attorney General in a serious and deliberate fashion. The Administration took months determining that a change in leadership was needed at the Department of Justice and then the President spent several weeks before making a nomination. Our focus now will be on securing the relevant information we need so we can proceed to schedule fair and thorough hearings. Cooperation from the White House will be essential in determining that schedule.    » read more »

Improving Student Testing Act Moves Away from High-Stakes Testing as the Primary Measure of Achievement

September 17, 2007 -- Washington, DC – U.S. Senators Russ Feingold (D-WI) and Patrick Leahy (D-VT) introduced the Improving Student Testing Act today to amend the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act. Feingold and Leahy’s legislation focuses on improving the quality of assessments used to measure student achievement in our nation’s schools.    » read more »

Introduce the False Claims Act Correction Act of 2007

Washington, D.C., Wednesday, September 12, 2007 -- Senators Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) and Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) are sponsoring new legislation in response to recent federal court decisions that threaten to limit the scope and applicability of the False Claims Act of 2001 which has recovered $20 billion for the U.S. Treasury that would otherwise be lost to fraud.    » read more »

September 5, 2007 -- This Sunday our Nation will mark the golden anniversary of the Civil Rights Act of 1957. It was the first major civil rights law passed since Reconstruction, and it remains one of the most important pieces of legislation this Committee and the Congress ever considered. Its story has been retold in the award-winning books Master of the Senate by Robert Caro and Parting the Waters by Taylor Branch.    » read more »

Aug. 31, 2007 -- “John Warner is one of my best friends. The Senate will be diminished by his leaving, and his steady, solid leadership has served the Senate, the nation and Virginia well.

“Senator Warner understands and values the Senate’s special role in our system. At its best, the Senate has acted as the conscience of the nation. Too few like Senator Warner are left in the Senate who understand that Senators must put country ahead of politics.”

Source: Senator Patrick Leahy

August 30, 2007 -- “I am pleased that Department of Justice Inspector General Glenn Fine will look into my concerns about potentially false, misleading or inappropriate testimony by the Attorney General. I look forward to the Inspector General’s findings on the unprecedented firings of nine United States Attorneys, the improper political hiring of career officials within the Justice Department, the misuse of National Security Letters, and the efforts to bypass the Department’s finding that a warrantless surveillance program was without legal basis.    » read more »

WASHINGTON (Wednesday, Aug. 29) – Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) Wednesday invited President Bush to consult with Senate leaders in choosing his nominee for the post of Attorney General.

The text of Leahy’s letter to President Bush follows.

# # # # #

August 29, 2007

The Honorable George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
Washington, D.C. 20500

Dear Mr. President:    » read more »

(Wednesday, Aug. 29) – Vermont's Congressional Delegation – Sen. Patrick Leahy, Sen. Bernie Sanders, and Rep. Peter Welch -- has asked the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) to reconsider a decision that hampers Vermont’s efforts to bring health care to the uninsured through the Catamount Health Care program passed last year by the Vermont Legislature.    » read more »