In news from Capitol Hill, Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert is expected to introduce a sweeping new intelligence bill, as early as today, that is being being described as Patriot Act 2 because it gives the police sweeping new powers. The Wall Street Journal reports one portion of the bill calls for the U.S. Attorney General’s office to maintain a database of criminal records that employers could access to make criminal background checks. In order to access the databases, employers would have to submit to the government fingerprint or other biometric identifiers of their job applicants or employees to the Justice Department. The bill would also increase fines and prison terms for illegal aliens and enlist local and state police in helping round up undocumented residents. Some cities, including Los Angeles and Philadelphia, that have policies restricting police from enforcing immigration law would lose federal funding if they did not rescind such policies. Michigan Congressman John Conyers said Hastert’s draft scarcely resembles the recommendation of the 9/11 Commission. He said “It’s as if the commission’s recommendations have been super sized with irrelevant fat and lard, representing a wish list of past reactionary proposals that would diminish our civil liberties.”