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Congress sets stage for civil liberties clash

By Sheryl Gay Stolberg
The New York Times
Posted on Friday December 23, 2005

WASHINGTON In a frantic finish before adjourning for the year, Congress has extended the broad antiterrorism bill known as the USA Patriot Act for five weeks after the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary Committee balked at a longer extension.

The deal, approved by voice vote in sparsely attended sessions in the House and Senate on Thursday, averts the expiration of the 16 major provisions of the original law on Dec. 31.

It was the final twist in a six-day game of brinkmanship between President George W. Bush and Senate Democrats who, joined by a handful of Republicans, had blocked a bill to make the original law permanent.

The deal fell far short of Bush’s goal, a permanent extension of the law, which expanded the government’s investigative powers after the attacks on Sept. 11, 2001.

The short-term extension sets the stage for a partisan clash over civil liberties and national security when lawmakers return to Washington early next year.

The deadline for reauthorizing the Patriot Act was moved, from Dec. 31 to Feb. 3, timing that could prove a problem for the White House.

It means that a debate on the law, which broadly expands the government’s surveillance and investigative powers, would be in full swing at the same time as the Senate starts an inquiry into a secret domestic spying program run by the National Security Agency.

Lawmakers on both sides of the issue say the measure and the spying program are inextricably intertwined.

The action on the antiterrorism law was taken after the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Representative James Sensenbrenner, Republican of Wisconsin, had threatened to derail a six-month extension approved by the Senate late Wednesday night.

White House officials intervened to persuade Sensenbrenner to sign off on the five-week extension.

With most lawmakers having already left Washington for their holiday vacations, just one senator, John Warner, Republican of Virginia, was on hand for the final Senate vote. He presided over a four-minute session.

Later, Bush, who said that making the act permanent was essential to protect against another attack, issued a statement promising to “work closely with the House and Senate to make sure that we are not without this crucial law for even a day.”

As it wrapped up business for the year, Congress also gave final approval to a $453.3 billion military spending bill that included $50 billion for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, $29 billion in new aid for hurricane victims, $3.8 billion to prepare for a possible outbreak of avian flu and a government-wide 1 percent spending cut.

The Republican leadership stripped out language for $2 billion in extra assistance for low-income people to pay their home heating bills.

Debate over the Patriot Act has inflamed passions among civil liberties advocates, who argue that the law permits too much government intrusion into personal privacy.

“I think there will be a compromise on the Patriot Act,” said Senator Charles Schumer, Democrat of New York, who voted to block the permanent renewal in part because of the disclosures about the spying program.

Senator Olympia Snowe, Republican of Maine, said: “I think there will be a lot of questions that have to be answered with respect to the domestic surveillance. It’s all interfaced. So I think perhaps it’s appropriate that all these issues will merge.”

The Patriot Act debate was hardly the sole partisan scuffle as lawmakers seemed desperate to adjourn.

In the House, a $40 billion budget-cutting measure, also passed by the Senate on Wednesday, ran into a roadblock when the Democratic leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California, rebuffed an entreaty from Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, Republican of Illinois, to consent to its consideration.

The move forces the House to take up the budget when it comes back into session next year.

In the Senate, Democrats, along with Snowe and her Maine Republican colleague, Senator Susan Collins, complained about the decision to strip assistance for home heating oil from the military spending bill.

The $2 billion provision was written into a section of the bill permitting oil exploration in the Arctic. When the Senate cut out the Arctic drilling language, the heating oil provision went with it.

Snowe and Collins later announced an accord with the Senate majority leader, Bill Frist of Tennessee, for the Senate to vote in January on a bill that would provide the additional money.

The negotiations were conducted from afar. When the Senate convened at 8 p.m., Warner sat in the chamber alone, joined just by clerks and 12 or so aides who clapped vigorously when he brought down the gavel for the final time this year.