Star Bulletin
by staff

12/12/05

House and Senate negotiators agreed last week to make 14 of the Patriot Act's 16 provisions permanent. Those essentially expanded surveillance and investigative powers of the federal government. ... A bipartisan group of six senators has vowed to fight the bill on the Senate floor, with Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., threatening to use a filibuster to block a vote. Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, ranking Democrat on the Judiciary Committee, proposed a three-month extension to work out a better compromise. Proponents of the bill, including the White House, refer to it as a compromise, but no Democratic negotiator went along with it. Further Republican concessions are needed to gain bipartisan and public support...

http://starbulletin.com/2005/12/12/editorial/editorial02.html


Informant: Thomas L. Knapp