WE DID IT!!!!!

THE HYDE BILL JUST PASSED!!!!!!

THE VOTE WAS A RESOUNDING 375 TO 48!!!!

At approximately 5 p.m. Eastern time today, Thursday, June 24, the Hyde Civil Asset Forfeiture Bill was passed by the House of Representatives by a vote of 375 to 48!

Only minutes earlier we handed Rep. Asa Hutchinson and the Department of Justice a huge defeat in the Hutchinson amendment, which would have gutted the reforms of the Hyde bill and made procedures worse than current law. The vote on the Hutchinson amendment was 155 for and 268 against.

Hyde, clearly buoyed by the defeat of the Hutchinson amendment, asked that the bill be voted on immediately. The chairman called a voice vote and ruled "the ayes have it." Hyde asked for a recorded vote, barely containing his excitement.

From the beginning our lead was tremendous -- it started out about 10 to 1 in favor of our bill and stayed there throughout the voting.

Throughout that time, C-Span flashed blurbs about the features of the bill on the screen. It was a beautiful sight to see things like "puts the burden of proof on the government by 'clear and convincing evidence'", "provides for court appointed counsel" -- appearing on the screen, while the votes in our favor piled up.

LIST OF VOTES

HR 1658 the civil forfeiture bill passed the house today. It is a good first step toward restoring basic civil liberties that have been trampled in the last 20 years.

Below is a list of congressman that voted against HR 1658 and betrayed the trust the American people placed in them to uphold the principles that this country was founded upon.

The scoundrels that would give absolute power to the police to seize property in the name of the Drug War are:

NOES 48

Andrews, Hayes, Pickering, Bachus, Hill, (IN)

Portman Barrett (WI)

Houghton, Ramstad, Bilbray, Hutchinson, Reyes, Blumenauer, John Reynolds, Boswell, Johnson, (CT)

Roukema, Boyd, Jones, (NC)

Shays, Bryant, Kind, (WI)

Shows, Chambliss, Latham, Souder, Collins, Maloney, (CT)

Sweeney, Condit, McCrery, Taylor, (MS)

Crowley, Mica, Thompson, (CA)

Cubin, Moore, Turner, Deutsch, Myrick, Visclosky, Gekas, Pascrell, Weiner, Gilman, Peterson, (MN)

Weldon(FL)

Most have websites and soe have e-mail addys at those sites in case you are interested in telling anyone of them what you think...

www.house.gov/ place their name here.

That should in most cases get you to the website...

It's not over yet, though. It's time to start lobbying our Senators. For details on the Hyde bill, see F.E.A.R. on HR 1658

Closer to Peace