Senate Passes Patriot Act Extension Or when terror brings power...

ASHINGTON - The terror-fighting USA Patriot Act may have a new lease on life. The GOP-controlled Senate on Wednesday approved a six-month extension of the USA Patriot Act to keep the anti-terror law from expiring on Dec. 31.President Bush gave it his grudging blessing.
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The Republican-controlled House is now expected to come back and consider the legislation keeping the 16 provisions of the law passed after the terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington from expiring.

Republican leaders and Bush wanted to make most of the law permanent, but were stymied by a filibuster in the Senate and had to resort to a six-month extension.

"This will allow more time to finally agree on a bill that protects our rights and freedoms while preserving important tools for fighting terrorism," said Sen. Russ Feingold (news, bio, voting record), D-Wis., who was the only senator to vote against the original Patriot Act in 2001.

House and Senate negotiators had agreed to compromise legislation that would have made most of the anti-terrorism law permanent and added additional safeguards to the law. But Senate Democrats and a small group of GOP senators blocked he legislation, arguing that the compromise needed more safeguards in it to protect Americans' civil liberties.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said he had no choice but to accept a six-month extension in the face of a successful filibuster and the Patriot Act's Dec. 31 expiration date. "I'm not going to let the Patriot Act die," Frist said.

Bush indicated that he would sign the extension. "The work of Congress on the Patriot Act is not finished," Bush said. "The act will expire next summer, but the terrorist threat to America will not expire on that schedule. I look forward to continuing to work with Congress to reauthorize the Patriot Act."

Frist said he had not consulted with House Speaker
Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., yet on the six-month extension. Senior Republicans there have opposed any temporary extension of the current law, insisting that most of the expiring provisions should be renewed permanently, but it would be difficult for the House to reject a plan agreed to by the Senate and President Bush.

The six-month "extension ensures that the tools provided to law enforcement in terrorist investigations in the Patriot Act remain in effect while Congress works out the few differences that remain," said Sen. John Sununu (news, bio, voting record), R-N.H., one of a small group of Republicans who crossed party lines to block the Patriot Act legislation.

Republicans who had pushed for legislation that would make most of the expiring provisions permanent said the agreement only postpones the ongoing arguments over the Patriot Act for six months. "We'll be right back where we are right now," said a clearly frustrated Sen. Orrin Hatch (news, bio, voting record), R-Utah.

Sen. John Cornyn (news, bio, voting record), R-Texas, added, "Our intelligence and law enforcement officials should not be left wondering, yet again, whether the Congress will manage to agree to reauthorize the tools that protect our nation."

Most of the Patriot Act which expanded the government's surveillance and prosecutorial powers against suspected terrorists, their associates and financiers was made permanent when Congress overwhelmingly passed it after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York City and Washington.

Making permanent the rest of the Patriot Act powers, like the roving wiretaps which allow investigators to listen in on any telephone and tap any computer they think a target might use, has been a priority of the Bush administration and Republican lawmakers.

If Congress fails to renew 16 expiring provisions of the USA Patriot Act by Dec. 31, America will be less safe, Gonzales and
Homeland Security Secretary
Michael Chertoff warned. Chertoff said every morning he reviews threat information against the United States and lies awake at night worrying about "what's coming next."

"The threat is still very much alive," Chertoff said, referring to terror groups that want to strike the United States.

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I'm from Romania. You could say why do I care? Since the USA controls much of the world economy, it makes a hell of a difference for me what happens to the USA.
Well as it seems terror has been very convenient for the Bush administration. I have been and I still am against this pointless war in Iraq. Bush's new move on terror seems to bring him more and more power. It hasn't been long since 9/11, but in the 4 years since the attack the world has changed. 2 wars have started, people died and still die in the urban battlefield of Iraq so that Bush can destroy piece by piece the famous liberty that the americans are proud of.
I still belive that 9/11 was at least another Pearl Harbour, an excuse for war, for oil and above all for power... When I review what happened over the years since 9/11 it seems like a hollywood movie script! Even a Star Wars fan could find some things in common. Same war as excuse, same powers granted by the Senate... maybe the same kind of outcome???
A few weeks ago the Senate has rejected a new extension of the Patrot Act. I was thinking... Bush would close his eyes, talk to Bin Laden on the phone, a bomb pops up somewhere in the USA and the Senate will accept (like it did after 9/11) the new extension to the Patriot Act. It seems he didn't have to go that far...
The future as I see it is not that orange. History has a bad habit of repeting itself... Big empires and nations have fallen after a certain amount of time. The liberty on which USA has been built seems to be slowly but surely fading away. I'm almoust sure that in the next 94 years we will witness a new world war that will create a new world order. This may seem a madness, but I'm sure you will agree with me when I say the world is becoming, after 60 years of peace, unstable.

The US really does control a lot, and we have the biggest economy too, but anyways just fixing my old spam post to clear up my record.. back to the post. We there will always be terror since weapons existed, and all we can do is fight them off and stop them from comming back. And all countries have there flaws so..

Edited April 14, 2006 by MaineFishing45 (see edit history)