Washington – With few if any allies, Sen. Russell Feingold dropped his effort late Wednesday to block the USA Patriot Act, clearing a path for Senate debate. But he promised to try to add new protections for civil liberties during proceedings later this month.
“I have no desire to inconvenience my colleagues or force votes in the middle of the night,” Feingold, D-Wis., said in a brief statement on the Senate floor.
Feingold stuck to his objections, saying protracted talks with the White House over the law’s protections for civil liberties produced only a “fig leaf” to cover weaknesses that leave people vulnerable to government intrusion.
“What we are seeing is quite simply a capitulation to the intransigent and misleading rhetoric of a White House that sees any effort to protect civil liberties as a sign of weakness,” Feingold said during a floor speech Wednesday.
Feingold did not say what his amendments would propose as Congress raced to renew the act’s 16 provisions set to expire March 10. But any attempt to change the legislation would face an uphill battle, according to Majority Leader Bill Frist.
“The outcome here is absolutely predetermined,” the Tennessee Republican said, expressing frustration with the delay. “It’s going to pass with overwhelming support.”
While the filibuster was a lone endeavor, Feingold had plenty of company in wanting the 2001 terrorism law to contain more curbs on the government’s power to investigate people.
The bill’s sponsor, Sen. Arlen Specter, agreed that the legislation before the Senate contains few new protections over those adopted in a failed House-Senate accord last year.
But, Specter said, a full makeover was unlikely to win congressional approval.
“Sometimes cosmetics will make a beauty out of a beast and provide enough cover for senators to change their vote,” Specter, R-Pa., said Wednesday.
Under the deal, recipients of court-approved subpoenas for information in terrorism investigations would have the right to challenge a requirement that they refrain from telling anyone.
Another protection would remove a requirement that an individual provide the FBI with the name of an attorney consulted about a National Security Letter, which is a demand for records issued by administrators. A third improvement says most libraries are not subject to National Security Letter demands.
