Nightly News   |  May 27, 2011

Using an Autopen, 'Robo-bama' signs Patriot Act

A four-year extension of the Patriot Act passed by Congress was signed into law minutes before midnight on Thursday by a so-called Autopen, a machine-made replica of the president's signature. NBC's Brian Williams reports.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>> back in d.c., a four-year extension of the revised pate rheed act was signed into law minutes before midnight last night. you would be correct to act, with the president overseasering how exactly did he sign the bill in washington? by machine. the so-called auto pen used by about the last dozen presidents. they sign their name initially by hand onto a template, and the machine re-creates it countless numbers of time exactly, and in this case, the signature had the force of law.