WASHINGTON — Senate Republican leaders fought Wednesday to save the USA Patriot Act renewal from sinking under the weight of opposition from a bipartisan group that says the measure would give the FBI a dangerous amount of power.
Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., predicted that the legislation would survive a filibuster threat and pass before more than a dozen of the 2001 law’s provisions expire Dec. 31.
He got a boost from Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who lobbied for the renewal briefly at a closed meeting of Republicans.
President Bush, meanwhile, urged the Senate to follow the House, which passed the bill 251-174 earlier in the day.
"The Patriot Act is essential to fighting the war on terror and preventing our enemies from striking America again,” Bush said in a statement. "In the war on terror, we cannot afford to be without this law for a single moment.”
Opponents of the White House-brokered renewal said there were options other than letting the provisions expire, such as passing a three-month extension to allow Congress to add civil liberties protections. In a letter to colleagues, this bipartisan group urged colleagues to block the compromise unless changes, such as higher thresholds for obtaining permission to wiretap, are included in the legislation.
The opponents in the Senate picked up support during the day, as Sens. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., and Ron Wyden, D-Ore., joined their ranks.
But supporters were buoyed by the House vote, which showed Democrats deeply split over the matter. While 155 Democrats voted against the renewal, 44 Democrats joined 207 Republicans to help pass it.
One senior official who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Frist and the White House had discussed a one-year extension of existing Patriot Act provisions if the test vote failed. But later in the day, Frist issued a statement rejecting a "short-term extension” and planned to hold a test vote on Friday.
At least one administration loyalist supported the one-year extension, citing the heavy workload facing lawmakers in the waning days of congressional session.
"I think it needs to be extended,” said Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan., who had planned to vote for the White House-brokered conference report. "We’re in a season where we need to accomplish what we can and move on.”
Others, such as Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., said a year would leave onerous government power granted by the original Patriot Act in force for too long.
The showdown left Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., in the odd position of campaigning hard for a provision of the compromise even as she declined to support the overall accord.
A member of the House-Senate panel that wrote the compromise, Feinstein succeeded in attaching her bill, co-sponsored by Sen. Jim Talent, R-Mo., to tighten restrictions on cold medications that can be cooked into methamphetamine.
At a press conference Wednesday promoting the meth bill, she said she will not reveal how she will vote on the overall Patriot Act authorization until GOP leaders add civil liberties protections.
"What is very important is that this body acts with some unity on it,” Feinstein told reporters.
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