U.S. Congress extends anti-terror act to February 3

The U.S. Congress on Thursday agreed to extend until February 3 key provisions of the anti-terrorism USA Patriot Act to allow more time for lawmakers to consider civil liberties protections for the law that was set to expire at the end of the month.

The measure goes to President George W. Bush who is expected to sign it despite his earlier objection to any temporary extension of expiring provisions and his insistence that Congress accept a compromise that would permanently renew the Patriot Act.

The Senate agreed to the short extension of the existing law even though it had approved a six-month extension on Wednesday. A key House of Representatives Republican objected to that timetable and insisted lawmakers be kept to a tight deadline.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman James Sensenbrenner of Wisconsin is pushing the Senate to accept a compromise negotiated between House and Senate leaders that would permanently renew the law. He blasted Democrats for leading the fight against Senate passage of that bill, forcing lawmakers to extend the current law that was to expire on December 31.

“It is imperative that the House-passed Patriot Act conference report be considered and passed by the Senate in a timely manner to ensure that our nation’s law enforcement and intelligence communities are provided the tools necessary to detect and defeat terrorist threats,” he said.

A senior administration official said Bush would sign the one-month extension of the act even though he had objected to any extension of current law and wanted Congress to accept the compromise.

Senate Democrats, joined by a handful of Republicans, blocked that compromise, arguing more time was needed to ensure a balance between national security and the civil liberties of Americans.

Initially passed after the September 11 attacks, the Patriot Act expanded the authority of the federal government to conduct secret searches, obtain private records, intercept telephone calls and take other actions in the effort to track down suspected terrorists.

RECENT DISCLOSURES

The battle over the Patriot Act got caught up in recent disclosures that Bush authorised spying on Americans with suspected ties to terrorists without seeking a court order.

House Democrats went along with the one-month extension, even though House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, a California Democrat, said she would have preferred more than one month to refine civil liberties protections.

“The portion of the law in dispute is the very controversial section that affects the basic civil liberties of the American people,” she said.

Senate Democrats said the timetable was unimportant.

“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 Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Among the civil liberties being debated in Congress are rules for “roving” wiretaps of suspects who use multiple telephones and court orders for records for businesses, libraries, bookstores and even personal medical records.

Donna Smith
(Additional reporting by Richard Cowan)
Reuters