Congressman John Salazar voted yesterday to protect the right to privacy, supporting legislation to end intrusion into private library and bookstore records. Salazar voted in favor of the "Freedom to Read Amendment" to the House Commerce, Justice, State (CJS) Appropriations bill, which if passed by the Senate and signed by the President, will restore long standing legal standards of search and seizure and help eliminate the federal government's intrusion into personal records.

"We need to be careful that in our efforts to end terrorism, we don't end the very liberties our soldiers are fighting to protect," said Salazar. "Congress must do all it can to prevent another terrorist attack, but we can do that without undermining basic constitutional rights."

The Freedom to Read Amendment was introduced by Congressmen Bernie Sanders (I-VT), "Butch" Otter (R-ID), John Conyers (D-MI), and Ron Paul (R-TX). The amendment was a bipartisan effort to restore protections to library and bookstore patrons and prevent indiscriminate searches of records. Passage of the amendment reinstated the legal standards for investigations which were in place for libraries and bookstores before the passage of the USA PATRIOT Act, without limiting the FBI's ability to use legitimate legal tools such as search warrants and grand jury subpoenas.

Recently the following communities in the Third Congressional District have passed resolutions against Patriot Act provisions that over-extend federal agencies' abilities to obtain personal records: Aspen, Carbondale, Crestone, Durango, Oak Creek, Paonia, Ridgeway, San Miguel County, and Telluride.

"We should not penalize all hardworking citizens for the actions of cowardly terrorists," said Salazar. "Many of my constituents have contacted me, worried that the federal government is indiscriminately searching and tracking private actions."

The Freedom to Read Amendment passed by a vote of 238 to 187.