In 2001, the United States suffered a multitude of tragedies. The most unforgettable, of course, was the terrorist attack of September 11th. Following the threat, Congress knew something had to be done to tighten security controls. On October 23, 2001, Jim Sensenbrenner, a Republican representative, introduced provisions in a previously sponsored House bill. The next day, the act passed the House by a vote ratio of three hundred and fifty-seven to sixty-six. The next day, the Senate voted on the bill, passing it by ninety-eight votes to one. Finally, on October 26, 2001, the USA Patriot Act was signed into law. The bill was intended to strengthen federal anti-terrorism investigations. But is the US Patriot Act realizing its full potential? This is something we will now explore. We will take a deeper look at not only what the bill consists of, but also the path to getting to the final draft and how it was passed. We'll also explore supporters and opponents of the law and what they have to say about it. Finally, I'll shed some light on who exactly is being affected now that this law is in place, and whether they've been given a little too much power. The USA Patriot Act was the result of a series of other bills revised together into legislation. The first bill introduced, known as the Combating Terrorism Act of 2001, was proposed by Republican Senators Orrin Hatch and Jon Kyl and Democratic Senators Dianne Feinstein and Chuck Schumer. In October 2001, after several other proposals and revisions, the first draft of the Patriot Act was submitted to the Senate on the basis of this bill, under the name Providing the appropriate tools necessary to intercept and hinder terrorism... half of document. ..... punish those responsible for the attacks and protect them from any similar attacks” (Doyle, The USA PATRIOT Act: A Legal Analysis, page 2). Since the new laws have come into effect, there has been a lot of controversy about them. Several questions were asked about whether or not the law was giving too much power to government law enforcement. With the law now leaving room for open investigations, espionage and even wiretaps, people are wondering whether things have been pushed too far. Interest groups fighting to protect our civil liberties argue that we have gone beyond keeping our country safe from outside terrorism, but are now compromising our basic civil rights as Americans, and as human beings. Although numerous revisions have been proposed, the USA Patriot Act is still in effect and continues to raise questions of government authority.