Patriot Act update moves toward approval

WASHINGTON – The Senate on Wednesday cleared the path for renewing the USA Patriot Act, swatting aside objections while adding new protections for people targeted by government investigations.

The overwhelming votes virtually assured that Congress will renew President Bush’s antiterror law before it expires March 10.

The law’s opponents, who insisted the new protections were cosmetic, conceded defeat.

“The die has now been cast,” acknowledged the law’s chief opponent, Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., after the Senate voted 84-15 to end his filibuster. “Obviously at this point, final passage of the reauthorization bill is now assured.”

The White House and GOP leaders finally broke a stalemate by crafting a measure that would somewhat limit the government’s power to compel information from people targeted in terror probes.

That measure passed overwhelmingly, 95-4. Voting no with Feingold were Sens. Jim Jeffords, I-Vt., Tom Harkin, D-Iowa, and Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va.

The measure added new protections to the 2001 antiterror law in three areas. It 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.