Senate adds safeguards to Patriot Act

By Thomas Ferraro

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – 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.