USA Patriot Act Is Extended by Congress For One More Month, With Small Turnout

WASHINGTON – Congress yesterday approved a one-month extension of the Patriot Act and sent it to President Bush in a pre-Christmas scramble to prevent many of its anti-terrorism provisions from expiring December 31.The Senate, with only Senator Warner, a Republican of Virginia, present, approved the February 3 expiration date four hours after the House, with a nearly empty chamber, bowed to Rep. James Sensenbrenner’s refusal to agree to a six-month extension.Congress can pass legislation with only a few lawmakers present as long as no member of the House or Senate objects. The Senate session lasted four minutes.Mr. Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the shorter extension would force swifter Senate action and had the support of the White House and Speaker Dennis Hastert, a Republican of Illinois. The Senate reconvenes January 18 and the House on January 26.“A six-month extension, in my opinion, would have simply allowed the Senate to duck the issue until the last week in June,” the Wisconsin Republican told reporters.Most Senate Democrats and a few libertarian-leaning Republicans united against a House-Senate compromise that would have renewed several expiring provisions permanently while extending some others for another four years.Democrats were pleased with a short-term extension, whether for six months or just a few weeks.“The amount of time is less important than the good-faith effort that will be needed in improving the Patriot Act to strike the right balance in respecting Americans’ liberty and privacy while protecting their security,” said Senator Leahy, a Democrat of Vermont and the ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee.“We’re happy to agree to a shorter term extension of the Patriot Act,” an aide to Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, Rebecca Kirszner, said. “The important thing is to strike the right balance between liberty and security.”House passage marked the latest step in a stalemate that first pitted Republicans against Democrats in the Senate, then turned into an intramural GOP dispute.Without action by Congress, several provisions enacted in the days following the 2001 terror attacks would have expired. Mr. Bush has repeatedly urged Congress not to let that happen.The Senate voted Wednesday night to extend the provisions by six months, a turnabout for GOP leaders who had long insisted they would accept nothing less than a permanent renewal of the law. The House approved the measure earlier this month, but a Democratic-led filibuster blocked passage in the Senate, with critics arguing the bill would shortchange the civil liberties of innocent Americans.“No one should make the mistake of thinking that a shorter extension will make it possible to jam the unacceptable conference report through the Congress,” said Senator Feingold, a Democrat of Wisconsin, who led the Senate filibuster. “That bill is dead and cannot be revived.”Mr. Bush carefully sidestepped the dispute that developed overnight between Republicans in the House and Senate.“It appears to me that Congress understands we’ve got to keep the Patriot Act in place, that we’re still under threat,” Mr. Bush said before boarding a helicopter for a trip to the presidential retreat at Camp David, Md.Most of the Patriot Act – which expanded the government’s surveillance and prosecutorial powers against suspected terrorists, their associates and financiers – was made permanent when Congress overwhelmingly passed it after the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington.Making permanent the rest of the Patriot Act powers, like the roving wiretaps that allow investigators to listen in on any telephone and tap any computer they think a target might use, has been a priority of the administration and Republican lawmakers.

USA Patriot Act Is Extended by Congress For One More Month, With Small Turnout

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