HOUSE RENEWS USA PATRIOT ACT; BUSH TO SIGN

WASHINGTON - Law enforcement officials get to keep their antiterror
tools, but with some new curbs, under the USA Patriot Act renewal
passed by the House in a cliffhanger vote.

The 280-138 vote Tuesday evening passed by just two votes more than
needed under House rules requiring a two-thirds majority for
legislation handled on an expedited basis. The vote ended a
monthslong battle over how to balance privacy rights against the need
to defeat potential terrorists - a political struggle in which
President Bush was forced to accept new restraints on law enforcement
investigations.

Bush was expected to sign the legislation before 16 major provisions
of the law, which was passed after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, expire Friday.

"The president looks forward to signing the bill," White House
spokeswoman Dana Perino said.

In a sign of uncertainty over the vote's outcome, the sponsor of the
measure containing the new civil liberties, Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H.,
crossed the Capitol to lobby representatives on the House floor
during Tuesday's 15-minute vote.

Despite the wafer-thin margin of victory, Republicans declared
victory as they sought to polish their national security credentials
this midterm election year, trying to balance a troubled war in Iraq
and revelations that Bush had authorized secret wiretapping without warrants.

"I'm glad it made it. Now it's behind us," Rep. Peter King, R-N.Y.,
said after he voted for the renewal.

For some, congressional passage comes none too soon after a season of
political combat that stalled the legislation and forced Congress to
postpone the expiration date twice. Forced by a filibuster, Bush
accepted new provisions that give people targeted in terrorism
investigations stronger civil liberties protections. The Senate
passed the reworked version overwhelmingly.

Republicans on Tuesday declared the legislative war won, saying the
renewal of the act's 16 provisions will help law enforcement prevent
terrorists from striking.

"This legislation is a win for law enforcement, the war on drugs, and
for communities and families across America," Senate Majority Leader
Bill Frist, R-Tenn., said in remarks prepared for Wednesday.

"Intense congressional and public scrutiny has not produced a single
substantiated claim that the Patriot Act has been misused to violate
Americans' civil liberties," said House Judiciary Committee Chairman
James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. "Opponents of the legislation have relied
upon exaggeration and hyperbole to distort a demonstrated record of
accomplishment and success."

But the debate over the balance between a strong war against
terrorists and civil liberties protections is far from over.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is holding hearings on the domestic
wiretapping program. Additionally, Chairman Arlen Specter, R-Pa., the
chief author of the Patriot Act renewal, has introduced a new measure
"to provide extra protections that better comport with my sensitivity
of civil rights."

Despite its passage, the Patriot Act still has staunch congressional
opponents who protested it by voting "no" even on the part of the
legislation that would add new civil rights protections. During the
Senate's final debate last week, Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., said
he was voting "no" because the new protections for Americans were so
modest they were almost meaningless.

Such objections echoed during the House debate Tuesday, where the
measure was supported by 214 Republicans and 66 Democrats and opposed
by 13 Republicans, 124 Democrats and one independent.

"I rise in strong opposition to this legislation because it offers
only a superficial reform that will have little if any impact on
safeguarding our civil liberties," said Rep. Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio.

For now, Bush will be signing a package on which members of both
chambers of Congress and the president can agree.

The legislation renews 16 expiring provisions of the original Patriot
Act, including one that allows federal officials to obtain "tangible
items" like business records, including those from libraries and
bookstores, for foreign intelligence and international terrorism
investigations.

Other provisions would clarify that foreign intelligence or
counterintelligence officers should share information obtained as
part of a criminal investigation with counterparts in domestic law
enforcement agencies.

Forced by Feingold's filibuster, Congress and the White House have
agreed to new curbs on the Patriot Act's powers.

These restrictions would:

- -Give recipients of court-approved subpoenas for information in
terrorist investigations the right to challenge a requirement that
they refrain from telling anyone.

- -Eliminate a requirement that an individual provide the FBI with the
name of a lawyer consulted about a National Security Letter, which is
a demand for records issued by investigators.

- -Clarify that most libraries are not subject to demands in those
letters for information about suspected terrorists.

The legislation also takes aim at the distribution and use of
methamphetamine by limiting the supply of a key ingredient found in
everyday cold and allergy medicines.

Yet another provision is designed to strengthen port security by
imposing strict punishments on crew members who impede or mislead law
enforcement officers trying to board their ships.