Pubdate: Wed, 08 Mar 2006
Source: Times, The  (Munster IN)
Copyright: 2006 The Munster Times
Contact:  http://www.nwitimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/832
Author: Laurie Kellman
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/meth.htm (Methamphetamine)

HOUSE RENEWS USA PATRIOT ACT; BUSH TO SIGN

WASHINGTON - Law enforcement officials get to keep their antiterror 
tools, but with some new curbs, under the USA Patriot Act renewal 
passed by the House in a cliffhanger vote.

The 280-138 vote Tuesday evening passed by just two votes more than 
needed under House rules requiring a two-thirds majority for 
legislation handled on an expedited basis. The vote ended a 
monthslong battle over how to balance privacy rights against the need 
to defeat potential terrorists - a political struggle in which 
President Bush was forced to accept new restraints on law enforcement 
investigations.

Bush was expected to sign the legislation before 16 major provisions 
of the law, which was passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, expire Friday.

"The president looks forward to signing the bill," White House 
spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

In a sign of uncertainty over the vote's outcome, the sponsor of the 
measure containing the new civil liberties, Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., 
crossed the Capitol to lobby representatives on the House floor 
during Tuesday's 15-minute vote.

Despite the wafer-thin margin of victory, Republicans declared 
victory as they sought to polish their national security credentials 
this midterm election year, trying to balance a troubled war in Iraq 
and revelations that Bush had authorized secret wiretapping without warrants.

"I'm glad it made it. Now it's behind us," Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y., 
said after he voted for the renewal.

For some, congressional passage comes none too soon after a season of 
political combat that stalled the legislation and forced Congress to 
postpone the expiration date twice. Forced by a filibuster, Bush 
accepted new provisions that give people targeted in terrorism 
investigations stronger civil liberties protections. The Senate 
passed the reworked version overwhelmingly.

Republicans on Tuesday declared the legislative war won, saying the 
renewal of the act's 16 provisions will help law enforcement prevent 
terrorists from striking.

"This legislation is a win for law enforcement, the war on drugs, and 
for communities and families across America," Senate Majority Leader 
Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said in remarks prepared for Wednesday.

"Intense congressional and public scrutiny has not produced a single 
substantiated claim that the Patriot Act has been misused to violate 
Americans' civil liberties," said House Judiciary Committee Chairman 
James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. "Opponents of the legislation have relied 
upon exaggeration and hyperbole to distort a demonstrated record of 
accomplishment and success."

But the debate over the balance between a strong war against 
terrorists and civil liberties protections is far from over.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding hearings on the domestic 
wiretapping program. Additionally, Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the 
chief author of the Patriot Act renewal, has introduced a new measure 
"to provide extra protections that better comport with my sensitivity 
of civil rights."

Despite its passage, the Patriot Act still has staunch congressional 
opponents who protested it by voting "no" even on the part of the 
legislation that would add new civil rights protections. During the 
Senate's final debate last week, Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., said 
he was voting "no" because the new protections for Americans were so 
modest they were almost meaningless.

Such objections echoed during the House debate Tuesday, where the 
measure was supported by 214 Republicans and 66 Democrats and opposed 
by 13 Republicans, 124 Democrats and one independent.

"I rise in strong opposition to this legislation because it offers 
only a superficial reform that will have little if any impact on 
safeguarding our civil liberties," said Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio.

For now, Bush will be signing a package on which members of both 
chambers of Congress and the president can agree.

The legislation renews 16 expiring provisions of the original Patriot 
Act, including one that allows federal officials to obtain "tangible 
items" like business records, including those from libraries and 
bookstores, for foreign intelligence and international terrorism 
investigations.

Other provisions would clarify that foreign intelligence or 
counterintelligence officers should share information obtained as 
part of a criminal investigation with counterparts in domestic law 
enforcement agencies.

Forced by Feingold's filibuster, Congress and the White House have 
agreed to new curbs on the Patriot Act's powers.

These restrictions would:

- -Give recipients of court-approved subpoenas for information in 
terrorist investigations the right to challenge a requirement that 
they refrain from telling anyone.

- -Eliminate a requirement that an individual provide the FBI with the 
name of a lawyer consulted about a National Security Letter, which is 
a demand for records issued by investigators.

- -Clarify that most libraries are not subject to demands in those 
letters for information about suspected terrorists.

The legislation also takes aim at the distribution and use of 
methamphetamine by limiting the supply of a key ingredient found in 
everyday cold and allergy medicines.

Yet another provision is designed to strengthen port security by 
imposing strict punishments on crew members who impede or mislead law 
enforcement officers trying to board their ships.
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MAP posted-by: Beth Wehrman