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Senate adds safeguards to Patriot Act Thomas Ferraro / Reuters | March 2 2006 The U.S. Senate on Wednesday approved a White House-backed bill to better protect civil liberties in the USA Patriot Act, clearing the way for anticipated renewal of the anti-terrorism law. Enacted shortly after the September 11 attacks as a centerpiece of President George W. Bush's war on terrorism, the Patriot Act expanded the power of the government to obtain private records, conduct wiretaps and secret searches and share information. On a vote of 95-4, the Senate approved and sent to the House of Representatives for needed concurrence a bill to add new safeguards of constitutional rights. The bill was written to resolve a stalemate that pitted a broad bipartisan desire to renew the Patriot Act against largely Democratic demands to better protect civil liberties. But the battle over its renewal also got caught up in recent disclosures that Bush authorized spying on Americans with suspected ties to terrorists without seeking a court order. On a vote of 84-15, the Senate moved to end debate on a separate House-passed measure to renew the Patriot Act, with a vote on passage of it expected on Thursday. "It is now crystal clear that (renewal of) the Patriot Act is on its way to becoming law," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican. "Today's bipartisan vote of 84 senators … brings us one step closer to ending the obstruction of America's No. 1 anti-terrorist tool," Frist said, adding Democrats should stop their remaining delaying tactics. The slim remaining opposition, headed by Wisconsin Democratic Sen. Russ Feingold, kept stalling action on the renewal, at one point reading aloud on the Senate floor much of the U.S. Constitution. The bill to renew the act would make permanent 14 expiring provisions and extend two others by four years. All are now set to expire on March 10. They were to initially expire at the end of last year, but temporary extensions gave Congress and the White House more time to resolve their stalemate and find common ground. LIBRARIES, LAWYERS AND GAG ORDERS Sen. John Sununu, a New Hampshire Republican and a chief sponsor of the bill to better protect civil liberties, said it represented a compromise, but added, "I think in this case the legislation represents a substantial step forward." Sununu and three fellow Senate Republicans, who had earlier joined Democrats in blocking renewal of the Patriot Act, reached a deal with the White House last month. One change would clarify that traditional libraries would not be subjected to a federal subpoena issued without the approval of a judge. Another would remove a previously proposed requirement that recipients of such subpoenas provide the FBI with the name of their lawyer. A third would allow individuals to challenge gag orders when they have been subpoenaed to produce personal information. But they would have to wait a year to do so. Critics complain it's unfair to force a person to wait a year to file a challenge and said other changes were also needed to better protect law-abiding citizens. Among the additional revisions already being pushed in the Senate for consideration later this year is one that would require the government to notify targets of "sneak and peek" searches within seven days. ---------------------------------------------------
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