I hope that you'll co-sponsor HR 3845, the USA PATRIOT Amendments Act.  This
long-overdue bill would protect constitutional speech and privacy by (1)
amending the national security letter statute to ensure that the government
obtains financial, communication and credit records only of people reasonably
suspected of being terrorists or spies; (2) permitting national security letter
gag orders only when a court has been convinced that such an order is
necessary; (3) Terminating the "lone wolf" authority that permits the
government to spy on individuals who are not members of any terror
organisation; and (4) ensuring that the library records provision of Section
215 does not authorise collection of library and bookshop records if they
contain information on the patron.

As you can imagine, the bill is not perfect.  It leaves intact the USA PATRIOT
Act's "material support" provision, permitting prosecution of those who work
with or for charities that give humanitarian aid in good faith to war-torn
countries.  I hope, therefore, that you will also support adding a provision
that would limit prosecution to those who actually intend to support
terrorist-oriented actions.

The chilling effect of the "material support" clause on charitable activities
cannot be overstated: I, for instance, have found myself wondering whether I
should be avoiding unstable nations such as Pakistan when I give micro-loans
through kiva.org.  It's the peaceful people living in countries that are host
to such terror cells who most deserve humanitarian aid and giving: if our aid
can keep people out of desperate circumstances, terror organisations will not
have so many desperate people from whom to recruit.