GOP Battles to Save Legislation on Patriot Act, Arctic Drilling

House and Senate Republican leaders struggled yesterday to salvage major legislative priorities and spare President Bush embarrassing setbacks at a low point in his presidency.

Efforts to renew the USA Patriot Act and to allow oil drilling in an Arctic refuge hung by a thread in the Senate last night as the White House and GOP leaders implored rank-and-file Republicans to stand with them. A fiscal 2006 spending bill to fund health and education programs also stalled, with Republicans protesting an array of cuts.

In the House, meanwhile, an immigration bill designed to demonstrate the GOP's resolve to tighten border security instead revealed deep party divisions. The two chambers remained unable to agree on budget cuts that are intended to signal a new era of fiscal restraint. And Senate Finance Committee Chairman Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa) said pending tax-cut legislation would be shelved until next year.

The scramble by Republican leaders highlights the growing nervousness of GOP lawmakers who see Bush battling low approval ratings as an election year approaches, and who are increasingly showing independent streaks. It also reflects the increasing effectiveness of the Democratic opposition, especially in the Senate, where the minority party is leading the revolt against the Patriot Act and Alaska drilling.

A major test of Republican mettle will come today when the Senate attempts to renew the Patriot Act, which Congress enacted after the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The law makes it easier for the FBI to conduct secret searches, monitor telephone calls and e-mail, and obtain bank records and other personal documents in terrorism investigations. Key provisions of the law expire Dec. 31.

But a number of senators from both parties said the proposed four-year renewal does too little to protect civil liberties and privacy, and they are backing a filibuster that would prevent a vote on the extension unless 60 of the 100 senators agree to halt the stalling tactic. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales and others urged Republicans to oppose the filibuster. But those pushing for another three months to negotiate the bill -- while the current law would stay in place -- expressed growing optimism last night .

On immigration, Bush and several House Republicans favor what they have called a balanced approach, with tough new provisions to secure the borders and clamp down on the hiring of illegal immigrants, as well as new avenues for foreigners to obtain work legally. But most House Republicans oppose such a guest-worker provision, which they maintain will turn into an amnesty program for illegal immigrants.

The dispute burst into public yesterday on the House floor when some Republicans threatened to scuttle the immigration bill unless they are given a chance to vote for a guest-worker program, while others said they would torpedo the legislation unless they are assured there would be no such vote.

Supporters of a guest-worker program threatened to side with Democrats on parliamentary votes scheduled for today that could derail the bill. But Republican leaders said they would stand firm against a guest-worker vote.

"I think we have to do this in steps," House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) said. "And first, we have to convince the American people we can secure the borders."

Hastert got support for the House bill from a surprising source yesterday, the White House. Just weeks ago, Bush used a major policy address near the Mexican border to reiterate his call for a border security bill with a guest-worker program. Yesterday, in an official policy statement, the White House said it "strongly supports" the House bill.

"The Administration remains committed to comprehensive immigration reform, including a temporary worker program that avoids amnesty, and believes this bill is a positive step toward that goal," the statement said.