Patriot Act Watch: Playing Politics But Extended for Six Months

Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, left, and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff speak about the Patriot Act at a joint news conference at the Justice Department in Washington, Wednesday, December 21, 2005.

The ASSociated Press has Senate Passes Patriot Act Extension

The Senate passed a six-month extension of the USA Patriot Act late Wednesday night, hoping to avoid the expiration of law enforcement powers deemed vital in the war on terror.

Approval came on a voice vote, and cleared the way for a final vote in the House.

Several provisions in the current law expire Dec. 31, and President Bush has called repeatedly for new legislation.

The House was scheduled to reconvene Thursday, but senior Republicans there have opposed any temporary extension of the current law, insisting that most of the expiring provisions should be renewed permanently.

The Senate vote Wednesday night capped several days of backroom negotiation conducted against the backdrop of presidential attacks on critics of the legislation.

The extension gives critics — who successfully filibustered a House-Senate compromise that would have made most of the law permanent — more time to seek civil liberty safeguards in the law. Democrats and their allies had originally asked for a three-month extension, and the Senate’s Republican majority had offered a one-year extension. The final deal split the difference.

Now perhaps the Democrats and some Republicans can dream up their objections to the Patriot Act.

“For a lot of reasons, it made the most sense, given that there are significant differences that remain,” said GOP Sen. John Sununu ) of New Hampshire, one of a small group of Republicans who joined with Senate Democrats to filibuster a House-Senate compromise.

“I think this is a reasonable conclusion,” said Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the ranking Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

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, R-Utah.

Sen. John Cornyn, 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.”

The bill’s critics gained momentum Wednesday when they released a letter crafted by Sununu and Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., showing they had 52 senators agreeing to support a three-month extension.

“This is the right thing to do for the country,” Schumer said after the deal had been announced. “To let the Patriot Act lapse would have been a dereliction of duty.”

As if Senator Schumer will vote for any extension of the Patriot Act in six months.

This compromise is “milking” this issue and forestalls its inevitable passage in six months. But, this delay will allow Sununu et al to have their ten minutes of fame on the Sunday talk shows.

This was a pitiful display of politics at the public’s expense.

Senators, from left, Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., John Sununu, R-N.H. and Patrick Leahy, D-Vt. talk on Capitol Hill, Wednesday, Dec. 21, 2005 prior to a news conference to discuss the Patriot Act.