House Votes to Weaken Anti Terror Bill

[Anonymous]

House Votes to Weaken Anti Terror Bill

Washington, March 13 (Reuter) -- The House of
Representatives Wednesday removed major provisions of an
anti-terrorism bill in a vote that sponsors of the
legislation said would gut the measure.

An amendment, adopted 246-171 by conservative Republicans 
and some liberal Democrats, removed language that would
give the government authority to label groups as
terrorist so foreign members can be deported more easily.
It also prohibits use of wiretap evidence obtained
without a warrant.

"We do not need to give our government vast new powers,"
Georgia Republican Bob Barr, the amendment's author, said
before the vote. He said current laws were strong enough.

"With the Barr amendment this is not a real
anti-terrorism bill," said Republican Henry Hyde of
Illinois, the bill's main sponsor and chairman of the
House Judiciary Committee.

Hyde said an unusual coalition of groups including the
conservative National Rifle Association and the liberal
American Civil Liberties Union were opposing the bill
because they thought it gave the federal government too
much power.

Hyde said one Republican colleague told him privately,
" 'I trust Hamas (the militant Islamic group) more than
my own government.' "