GOP leaders reach deal on Patriot Act

WASHINGTON -- Republican negotiators accepted a White House-brokered deal Thursday that clears the way for Congress to vote next week on whether to renew the USA Patriot Act's most controversial provisions for four years, in slightly modified forms.

 GOP leaders called the development a major breakthrough in a long and contentious debate over whether and how to renew the law, which was passed in the wake of the 2001 terrorist attacks and parts of which are set to expire Dec. 31. Since it took effect four years ago, the act has made it easier for federal agents to secretly tap phones, obtain library and bank records, and search the offices or homes of terror suspects. 



 But the agreement faces an uncertain future. No Democratic negotiators in the House or Senate embraced the bill that emerged from the conference committee, and a bipartisan group of senators complained that the proposed revisions do too little to protect the civil liberties of innocent Americans. Proponents had hoped for bipartisan support, but said they believe the bill can survive threatened efforts in the Senate to block it. Some warned, however, that the vote could be close. 



 The White House intervened this week to coax House Republican leaders to accept a four-year extension of the law's most controversial provisions, rather than a seven or 10-year extension they had preferred. The concession was enough to win the endorsement of Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., but not the Democrats on his panel. Specter called the measure "not a perfect bill, but a good bill." 



 But three Senate Democrats and three Republicans issued a statement saying they were "gravely disappointed" that Specter and others agreed during House-Senate negotiations to drop "modest protections for civil liberties" that were included in a version the Senate had passed unanimously this year. They predicted the Senate will reject the compromise bill. 



 The six were Republican Sens. Larry Craig of Idaho, John Sununu of New Hampshire and Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, and Democrats Richard Durbin of Illinois, Kenneth Salazar of Colorado and Russ Feingold of Wisconsin. Feingold vowed to launch a filibuster, which would scuttle the Patriot Act extension unless 60 of the 100 senators opposed his effort. Some Republicans said Democrats would be foolhardy to block "anti-terrorism" bill on the eve of an election year. 



 Also criticizing the bill Thursday were Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.; Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the Judiciary Committee's ranking Democrat; and Edward Kennedy, D-Mass. 



 The compromise bill would slightly change the provisions that allow FBI to obtain people's business records, including library records. Investigators would have to provide a judge with a "statement of facts" showing "reasonable grounds" to believe the records are relevant to an anti-terror investigation. 



 Another provision governs "national security letters," which are used by the FBI to demand customer records from businesses such as telephone companies, Internet providers and libraries. Recipients of such letters are required to keep the requests secret. The new legislation would explicitly give businesses that receive such letters the right to challenge them in court, but critics say the process is set up in such a way that the government will nearly always prevail. There also is no provision for notifying the individual whose records are being targeted. 



 As part of the compromise, lawmakers dropped a provision that would have made it a crime punishable by up to a year in prison to disclose receipt of a national security letter. But the deal retains a five-year prison term if the disclosure is aimed at obstructing an investigation. 



 Leahy and others strongly oppose provisions instructing judges to presume that federal agents should obtain records unless the targeted person can show that the government acted in bad faith. Kennedy called the targeted person's opportunity to challenge a search "arguably worse than nothing." 



 The Washington Post reported last month that the FBI now issues more than 30,000 national security letters a year, a hundredfold increase over historic norms. The Justice Department disputed the report but has refused to provide its own tally. 



 The revised law also would allow agents to surreptitiously search someone's home or business without telling the person for 30 days. The Senate bill called for a seven-day limit on such "sneak and peek" powers, while the House version allowed 180 days. 



 Attorney General Alberto Gonzales called the compromise bill a "win for the American people." Although the administration has opposed any sunset provisions, Gonzales told reporters the administration would back the latest Republican compromise. "It's certainly something that we can support," he said. 



 The American Civil Liberties Union condemned the agreement, arguing that it would continue to allow the FBI to obtain "a huge array of extremely private records of innocent Americans" with little oversight or limitation. 



 "This sham compromise agreement fails to address the primary substantive concern raised by millions of Americans, as well as civil liberties, privacy and business organizations," Caroline Fredrickson, director of the ACLU's Washington office, said in a statement. 



 Longtime Patriot Act critics such as the ACLU and library groups had been joined in recent months by a politically diverse alliance of advocacy organizations, including the Chamber of Commerce, which objected to parts of the legislation that allow the FBI to demand records from businesses about customers.