Dear [Decision Maker],

As your constituent and a concerned American, I urge you to bring the Patriot Act in line with the Constitution. I understand the House of Representatives and the Senate will soon have to reconcile competing bills on Patriot Act reauthorization, and--though it is not perfect--I urge you to support the Senate version.

I also urge you to support the Security and Freedom Enhancement, or SAFE, Act, which would take other appropriate steps to reform the Patriot Act, while giving the government enough power to prevent terrorism. Given the recent revelations of the FBI targeting a member of the American Library Association with the Patriot Act, I hope you would agree that new safeguards are needed.

I join almost 400 communities, including seven states, that have passed resolutions calling on Congress to reform the Patriot Act by including appropriate checks and balances to prevent misuse and abuse. The Patriot Act was passed without sufficient debate in the weeks after 9/11. Many of your colleagues had little idea what was in the bill when they voted for it. We have an opportunity today to revisit the law, reform it and ensure that our law enforcement and intelligence services have the tools they need--subject to appropriate judicial and Congressional oversight. Americans of all political stripes are worried about their privacy if the Patriot Act is not fixed. Along with expanding the government's already broad power to secretly search our homes and not tell us for months, it makes it much easier for the government to access our private records from hospitals, hotels, libraries and other businesses, without any facts connecting our records to a foreign terrorist, let alone probable cause.

The law must be fixed. The Senate bill and the SAFE Act together would go a long way toward doing exactly that.

I look forward to hearing your views on this crucial matter.

Sincerely,

[Your Name]
[Your Address]
[City, State ZIP]