February 3, 2006 WASHINGTON -- Congress sent President George W. Bush a second five-week extension of the Patriot Act as Senate negotiators worked to close a deal with the White House on renewing the antiterrorism law with some new civil liberties protections.
"The president thinks it's important to have the Patriot Act in place, and we should not go a single day without it," White House spokesman Trent Duffy said Thursday.
The new extension is through March 10. Sixteen provisions of the 2001 law were originally set to expire Dec. 31, but Congress extended them until today after Democrats and a handful of Senate Republicans demanded that banks, libraries and Internet service providers have the right to appeal when the FBI seeks financial and other records of their customers and clients.
The Senate voted, 95-1, Thursday night to extend the current law unchanged. The House passed the March 10 extension earlier, and it awaits Bush's signature.
The Senate balked at a House-backed plan to revise the law. House provisions giving the FBI more power to wiretap and track terrorist suspects have prompted attacks from some senators who say such authority would threaten individual liberties.
Senate Democrats and four libertarian-leaning Republicans had blocked a final vote on a measure negotiated by the White House that would have made permanent most expiring provisions.
The law makes it easier for federal agents to gather and share information in terrorism investigations, install wiretaps and conduct secret searches of households and businesses.
Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., was the only lawmaker to vote against the extension.