The Patriot Act was a major step forward, of course, and its provisions have helped dismantle terrorist cells and thwart additional attacks. But it is far from the kind of comprehensive reform of our legal system necessitated by a new universe of threats from radical Islamists willing to forfeit their own lives for a twisted sense of martyrdom. We’re in a whole new world now, fighting a war with an enemy that seeks not just our defeat but our annihilation. These new dangers – like all new challenges – require new tools.

Last week the Senate Terrorism, Technology and Homeland Security Subcommittee that I chair held a hearing to review legislative efforts to provide law enforcement authorities with additional legal resources and remove unnecessary obstacles. Of particular focus was S. 2679, the Tools to Fight Terrorism Act (TFTA), which I recently introduced along with several other members of the subcommittee and the Senate leadership.

Over the past several years, congressional committees and executive agencies have conducted extensive reviews of our nation’s antiterrorism safety net, and anyone who reads the daily paper knows we’ve uncovered numerous flaws and gaps. To cite a particularly egregious example, we have found that in many cases anti-terror investigators still have less authority to obtain information than do investigators of other crimes, such as those involving mail fraud.

We have also found that many of the federal code’s criminal offenses are too narrow in scope to account for new contingencies, and that most penalties are far too light to be an effective deterrent. Unlawful possession of a nuclear weapon, for example, carries a maximum penalty of just 10 years in prison. So-called “dirty bombs,” capable of rendering large metropolitan areas uninhabitable for decades, are not even illegal to own.

Among other things, the TFTA would:

• Allow FBI agents to seek warrants for surveillance of suspected “lone-wolf” terrorists, such as alleged 20th hijacker Zacarias Moussaoui.
• Improve information sharing among federal agencies and with state and local authorities, avoiding the types of barriers between criminal and intelligence investigators that impeded pre-September 11 searches in the United States for 9/11 hijackers Khalid al-Midhar and Nawaf al-Hazmi.
• Punish hoaxes about terrorist crimes or the death of a U.S. soldier, imposing penalties commensurate with the costs, disruptions and trauma inflicted by such hoaxes.
• Impose stiff 30-year mandatory-minimum penalties for possession of shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles, atomic and radiological bombs, and variola virus (smallpox) – penalties stiff enough to deter middlemen who might help terrorists acquire these weapons.

Witnesses at the subcommittee hearing included Professor Jonathan Turley of the George Washington University Law School, a respected constitutional scholar who testified that, in his view, all of the major provisions of the bill would likely withstand a Supreme Court challenge.

The third anniversary of the September 11 attacks serves as a timely reminder of the importance of providing law enforcement agencies with the tools they need to do their jobs effectively. Every provision in this bill has been vetted extensively, and many have been languishing for months if not years. There’s no excuse for Congress not to move quickly to make these improvements to our homeland security, and we must work to pass the bill before we adjourn for the year.

The post Giving Law Enforcement Some Overdue Tools In the Fight Against Terrorism appeared first on Truth News | News Without Manipulations.

For me – someone who has never wavered in my pursuit of lower taxes for working families – this fact is a victory in itself. It’s a sign that both parties in Washington and both houses of Congress actually do “get it.” The way to stimulate a stagnant economy is not through increasing the size of the federal bureaucracy and multiplying government spending many times over. Conversely, sending more money back to those who earn it, spend it, and thus, drive the economy is the very best approach. And though there was disagreement throughout the tax debate on what the final package should look like, the fact that nearly everyone involved saw the benefit in cutting taxes is satisfying.

Now that President Bush has signed the economic growth package into law, most of us will begin to see an impact very soon. Paychecks should reflect the tax relief as soon as employers and payroll processors implement the new withholding tables. That means you do not need to take any action to benefit from the new tax relief. And for millions of working families here in Ohio and across the country, that relief can’t come soon enough.

The new tax relief law expands the 10 percent tax bracket into which every American taxpayer falls. This change was due to occur in 2008 but has been accelerated to spur economic growth right now, when we need it most. For more than 3 million married couples and single filers here in Ohio, this means they will see an increase in take home pay shortly. The new law also immediately accelerates marriage penalty relief originally scheduled to be phased-in over four years, beginning in 2005. More than 1.3 million married couples in the Buckeye State will benefit from this provision, which increases the standard deduction for joint filers to double the amount for single filers. And finally, nearly one million Ohio married couples and single parents will enjoy an immediate increase in the child tax credit – from $600 to $1,000. In fact, later this year a typical family with one child will receive a check for $400 to reflect this change. Much like the tax bracket changes I described earlier, you need to take no action if you are eligible to receive this check. They will be mailed later in the year.

For small business owners and investors, the news is just as good as it is for working families. The new law increases from $25,000 to $100,000 the amount of expenses small business owners can immediately deduct from their taxes for new equipment and technology purchases. And it also slices into the unfair double taxation on dividends (welcome news for seniors who depend on dividends as part of their income) while reducing taxes on capital gains – a proven winner for the economy (as President Clinton and Congress proved in 1997 when capital gains taxes were last cut).

This plan will give taxpayers in Ohio and throughout the nation reasonable tax relief while giving our economy a much-needed boost. Our state will rank among the top ten states with the largest tax relief from the new law, which will help create new jobs all across the Buckeye State. For those of us who have fought for lower and fairer taxes year after year, it’s a big win. And for our nation’s economy and job market, it’s even bigger.

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