House, Senate Strike Deal to Renew Anti-Terrorism Law

By Kathy Kiely

WASHINGTON — Republican House and Senate negotiators reached a tentative deal Thursday to extend the USA Patriot Act, the sweeping anti-terrorism law passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

The White House endorsed the compromise, but a bipartisan group of senators attacked it as an assault on civil liberties. A heated debate appears likely when the measure reaches the full Senate and House as early as next week.

Without congressional action, the Patriot Act expires Dec. 31.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., said the proposed legislation, hammered out in “very, very difficult” talks between House and Senate Judiciary Committee members, is “not perfect but acceptable. “

Specter cited his success in placing a four-year cap and other limits on some controversial provisions, including those that permit secret warrants for library, medical and business records and the use of “national security letters” to demand information and records without a search warrant.

So far, the deal has not attracted Democratic support. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee and a friend whom Specter had hoped to win over, is opposed. Leahy called for a 90-day extension of the existing law to allow more time for negotiations. “This is a bill that goes into your right of privacy over and over,” he said.

Two other committee Democrats, Russ Feingold of Wisconsin and Dick Durbin of Illinois, joined Larry Craig, a conservative Idaho Republican, and three other senators in opposition to the deal. In a statement, they accused negotiators of jeopardizing the law’s renewal “by insisting the modest protections for civil liberties be excluded.” Feingold is threatening to block the measure on the Senate floor.

Other senators in the group are Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, Ken Salazar, D-Colo., and John Sununu, R-N.H.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman F. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., said the deal will “ensure that our intelligence and law-enforcement officers will have the tools necessary to protect” Americans.

Specter said the deal includes changes that should win over civil libertarians. Among the new requirements:

*Federal agents must obtain a court review before obtaining library records.

*Individuals who receive “national security letters” will be allowed to consult with a lawyer.

*Law enforcement officials will be required to show to a court that they are targeting a specific person before obtaining permission for a “roving wiretap,” which allows them to monitor a target’s conversations as he moves from place to place.

*Individuals who have been subject to a “sneak and peek” search warrant, which allows law enforcement to enter someone’s house without their knowledge, must be told within 30 days.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan said the administration is pleased with the deal, noting it makes 14 of the law’s 16 provisions permanent. He called the act “critical” to winning the war on terror because “it helps investigators and authorities … capture terrorists before they strike.”

But Leahy said the compromise would allow the government to obtain individuals’ library, business and medical records by claiming they are “relevant” to a terrorism investigation, even if the individuals have no known links to a terrorist organization or a foreign government. Leahy also wants to impose an expiration date on the government’s power to use “national security letters” to obtain information without court approval.

He also said the compromise makes it too hard for people who receive demands for information from government investigators to challenge the requests in court.

Contributing: David Jackson and Kevin Johnson

(c) Copyright 2005 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.