Bush threatens veto of spending bill
WASHINGTON — The White House threatened Wednesday to veto a wide-ranging spending bill if the House uses it to weaken the USA Patriot Act, raising the prospect of an election-year fight over President Bush’s quest for expanded powers to counter terrorists.
The warning came as Rep. Bernard Sanders, I-Vt., prepared to try amending the spending measure with a provision making it harder for the government to order libraries or book sellers to provide records to investigators. The vote seemed likely to occur Thursday.
The Patriot Act, passed in the aftermath of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, strengthened the government’s surveillance and detention powers. Bush has since tried to expand its reach, but the bill has been criticized by Democrats and conservative Republicans for going too far.
Sanders was planning to offer his amendment to a bill providing $39.8 billion next year for the departments of Commerce, Justice and State. That is $2.2 billion more than this year’s total and $240 million beyond what Bush proposed for 2005.
In a memo to lawmakers, the White House budget office warned that if an amendment “that would weaken the USA Patriot Act were adopted and presented to the president for his signature, the president’s senior advisers would recommend a veto.”
But Sanders — whose amendment has been supported by conservatives, including Rep. Butch Otter, R-Idaho — said it was wrong for the government to be able to demand information about the books that individuals purchase or borrow.
“That is not, I believe, what this country is about,” Sanders said.
Sanders was trying to block a Patriot Act provision that lets investigators get court orders requiring book dealers, libraries or others to surrender records. The orders are issued by a special court that handles foreign surveillance intelligence cases, and are easier to obtain than search warrants or subpoenas.
The Senate has yet to write its version of the bill.
By 281-137, the House voted to boost the Small Business Administration’s budget by $70 million, to $742 million. The sponsors, Reps. Donald Manzullo, R-Ill., and Nydia Velazquez, D-N.Y., said they would use the money to head off increased federal borrowing fees that small business owners face this fall.
The sponsors took the money from other accounts in the bill, mostly Justice Department salaries and automation, despite arguments that the cuts would hinder homeland security efforts. The vote underscored the potency of one theme of the presumed Democratic presidential ticket, Sens. John Kerry of Massachusetts and John Edwards of North Carolina: that the middle class faces an economic squeeze.