House, Senate Reach Deal on Patriot Act

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Richard Forno <rforno () infowarrior org>
Date: December 8, 2005 2:02:58 PM EST
To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: House, Senate Reach Deal on Patriot Act

House, Senate Reach Deal on Patriot Act
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/08/ 
AR2005120800
892_pf.html

By Daniela Deane
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, December 8, 2005; 1:51 PM

House and Senate negotiators, after arguing for months, have reached
agreement to extend the USA Patriot Act, the country's main anti- 
terrorism
law, Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter announced today.

"This is not a perfect bill, but a good bill," Specter (R-Pa.) said at a
news conference, which took months of often-tense negotiations to  
reach. "I
think it's well-balanced."

The agreement makes permanent most parts of the Patriot Act and  
extends for
four years two of the act's most controversial provisions. Those  
authorize
roving wiretaps and give FBI agents access to library, business and  
hospital
records.

The legislation would also extend for four years a provision of a  
separate
intelligence law passed last year that sets standards for monitoring  
"lone
wolf" terrorists who are not connected to a foreign government .

The House-passed bill had authorized these provisions for 10 years,  
while
the Senate version accepted only a four-year term. Shortly before
Thanksgiving, the House negotiators said they would accept a seven-year
limit, but some senators kept pushing for a shorter time frame.

Most of the Patriot Act, which was approved overwhelmingly by  
Congress after
the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington,  
becomes
permanent under the reauthorization. Sixteen provisions were due to  
expire
on Dec. 31.

The law expands the government's surveillance and prosecutorial powers
against suspected terrorists and their accomplices.

Specter said the Senate will vote on the compromise bill next week.  
He said
he did not expect Senate Democrats to use a filibuster to block the  
vote.
And if they did, he did not expect it would be successful.

Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wis.), who was the only senator to vote  
against the
bill in 2001, threatened a filibuster, the Associated Press reported. "I
will do everything I can, including a filibuster, to stop this  
Patriot Act
Conference Report, which does not include adequate safeguards to  
protect our
constitutional freedoms," he said.

Specter said Sen. Patrick Leahy, the ranking Democrat on the Senate
Judiciary Committee, "has elected not to sign the conference report." He
added, though, that "he and I are going to continue to work together  
to see
if we can find some common ground here."

Leahy did not immediately comment on the bill.

Specter said the Bush administration was "very, very happy with this  
bill
because they're going to get a bill."

"We came perilously close to not getting a bill," Specter told  
reporters.
"The administration was very helpful in getting agreement."

Staff writers Dan Eggen and Charles Babington contributed to this  
report.




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