|
Senate Votes to Extend Patriot Act for 6
Months
December 22, 2005 By Rick Klein Source: Boston Globe The Senate voted last night to extend the USA Patriot Act for six months and give Congress time next year to revise the anti-terrorism law that is set to expire Dec. 31. The surprise deal capped a tumultuous day as senators tried to wrap up their work for the year and head home for the holidays. Earlier, Senate Democrats blocked oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, and Republicans eked out the narrowest of victories on a deficit-cutting measure. With President Bush prodding them, senators had negotiated throughout the day to extend the Patriot Act, a series of expanded law-enforcement tools in the war on terrorism. Democrats and some Republicans insist the law should provide more protections of civil liberties. Democrats and their allies had originally sought a three-month extension of the law, and the Senate's Republican majority had offered a one-year extension. The two sides hammered out the compromise after hours of intense talks and approved the measure on a voice vote. ''For a lot of reasons, it made the most sense, given that there are significant differences that remain," said Senator John Sununu of New Hampshire, one of a small group of Republicans who had joined with Senate Democrats to filibuster a House-Senate compromise. The House, which passed a full four-year renewal last week, must approve the compromise. Congress passed the Patriot Act after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. The law makes it easier for FBI agents to monitor phone calls and e-mails, to search homes and offices, and to obtain the business records of terrorist suspects. The battle over extending the law was complicated by the recent disclosure that Bush had authorized spying on communications by Americans with suspected terrorist ties without obtaining warrants. Bush has repeatedly insisted on the full four-year renewal of the law, but Senator Patrick Leahy predicted that the president would support the six-month extension. ''This is a common-sense solution that gives the Senate more time to craft a consensus bill that will promote our security while preserving our freedom," Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, said in a statement. The vote on Arctic drilling effectively kills efforts to open the sprawling wildlife refuge to oil exploration -- at least until next year's session of Congress. Late last night, the Senate approved a $453.5 billion defense spending measure, stripped of the drilling provision that had stalled it. The defense bill includes $50 billion for military operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, $29 billion for Hurricane Katrina rebuilding, and $3.8 billion to help prepare for an avian flu outbreak. The budget-cutting measure, which would trim nearly $40 billion through deep cuts in education, health, and other programs, passed only after Vice President Dick Cheney cast a tie-breaking vote. The day's biggest drama came over drilling in the Alaska nature refuge, the main front in recent battles between environmentalists and the oil industry. Republicans say it will lessen the nation's dependence on foreign oil, but Democrats counter that oil drilling threatens endangered wildlife in the preserve. Senator John F. Kerry, Democrat of Massachusetts, said his colleagues who voted on principle against a bill that linked drilling in an ecologically fragile environment with military funding during wartime faced great political risk that their opponents might portray them as undermining US troops. ''For some, it was a very difficult vote, because they're up for reelection and because the lines are drawn in politics so easily today," Kerry said. ''The only reason we were confronted with this was because there was an effort to put the Arctic wildlife refuge where it didn't belong." Republicans fell three votes shy of the 60 they needed to end the Democrat-led filibuster against the drilling. All but four of the Senate's 44 Democrats joined independent Senator James M. Jeffords of Vermont and two Republicans, Senators Lincoln D. Chafee of Rhode Island and Mike DeWine of Ohio, to vote against closing debate on the bill. Coming in conjunction with the showdown over the Patriot Act, yesterday's oil drilling vote was the second time in days that Senate majority leader Bill Frist, widely considered a 2008 presidential contender, failed to end the Democrats' filibuster. The outcome was a particularly bitter defeat for Senator Ted Stevens, Republican of Alaska, who has fought to allow oil exploration in the refuge for more than a quarter-century. This year, with record gas prices and the GOP holding a 10-vote edge in the Senate, Stevens, the powerful former chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, saw his best chance in years to fulfill his quest and used every means at his disposal. His final strategy was to tack it on to the defense bill; the House has already voted to approve the drilling. Yesterday, Stevens threatened to keep the Senate in session through New Year's Day to break down the opposition. But his fellow Republicans pleaded with him to back down. ''ANWR's got to come out," said Senator Trent Lott, Republican of Mississippi, who worried that his home state would lose hurricane rebuilding funds. ''We went with him, now he's got to go with us." The drilling vote came shortly after Republicans approved trimming $39.7 billion in federal spending by a single vote. Five Republicans voted with Democrats against the cuts, forcing Cheney to cast the deciding vote on a bill to make deep cuts to federal student loans, Medicare, and Medicaid. Republicans hailed it as a strong statement for fiscal discipline, but Democrats and interest groups predicted a backlash against Republicans at the polls during next year's congressional elections. In a statement, Senate minority leader Harry Reid's office branded the vice president ''Ebenezer Cheney." ''This is the most corrupt Congress in history," said Reid, Democrat of Nevada. ''How can it be that we're about to cut student loans, Medicare, and Medicaid, and then turn around and provide even more tax breaks to special interests and multimillionaires? Have we no sense of decency? Have we no sense of shame?" Democrats and Jeffords voted unanimously against the budget cuts. They were joined by Republican Senators Chafee, DeWine, Susan M. Collins and Olympia J. Snowe of Maine, and Gordon Smith of Oregon. Chafee, DeWine, and Snowe are all up for reelection next year. Senate Budget Committee chairman Judd Gregg, Republican of New Hampshire, noted that only Republicans voted for the measure, the first significant controls on mandatory spending to pass Congress since 1997. ''Yes, there is more to be done, but it is a step in the right direction," Gregg said. Still, a final victory on the budget cuts will be delayed temporarily because of a technical change by Senate Democrats that will require the House to vote again. House minority leader Nancy Pelosi said yesterday that she wants the measure voted on ''in the light of day." She could hold up the bill until after the House resumes formal sessions Jan. 31. In any event, Republicans' razor-thin victory on the budget was overshadowed by the stinging defeat on drilling in Alaska. Oil companies have wanted to drill for oil on portions of the 19.6 million-acre refuge; the Bush administration has estimated that its 1.5 million-acre coastal plain could yield as much as 1 million barrels of oil a day, and the president insists that drilling there will reduce national dependence on foreign oil. Stevens, wearing the ''Incredible Hulk" tie he reserves for big battles on the Senate floor, pleaded with his colleagues to allow the drilling, which he said would take place in mostly barren portions of the refuge. ''We know this Arctic," Stevens said. ''They don't know the Arctic at all." But the environmental protection arguments kept Democrats together. And anger that such a controversial item was being included in a defense spending bill persuaded some others to vote against Stevens, the Senate's president pro tempore, an honor bestowed on the longest-serving member of the majority party. ''He is my friend. I love him. But I love the Senate more," said 88-year-old Senator Robert C. Byrd, Democrat of West Virginia, referring to his 82-year-old colleague. Byrd and Stevens have served together in the Senate for 37 years. Despite the vote, both sides acknowledged that the issue of Arctic drilling will return in the near future. Senator Pete V. Domenici, the chairman of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee, vowed to push for it in next year's budget. ''Developing more of our own energy is the right thing to do for our economy, our consumers, and our security," said Domenici, Republican of New Mexico. But environmental groups hope that the successful filibuster will solidify opposition to drilling. Mindful of growing evidence of climate change, lawmakers at both the state and national levels are beginning to address the threats posed by greenhouse gases, generating greater interest in developing new energy sources, said Seth Kaplan, a senior attorney at the Conservation Law Foundation in Boston. ''They're clearly not going to give up on this," Kaplan said. ''But the momentum is shifting." Material from wire services was included in this report. Complete archives at http://www.sitbot.net/ Please let us stay on topic and be civil. OM YAHOO! GROUPS LINKS
|
