House Passes One-Month Extension of Patriot Act

Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-N.Y.) said the key to breaking the impasse in the Senate was a letter -- signed earlier yesterday by 52 of the 100 senators, including eight Republicans -- that urged GOP leaders to call a truce in the battle over the act's renewal. They sought a three-month extension of the existing statute but later agreed to six months.

Bush and top Senate Republicans had repeatedly insisted on the full four-year renewal that the House passed on Dec. 14. But they could not overcome the Senate filibuster backed by Sununu, three GOP colleagues and all but two Democrats.

Bush and others have said the Patriot Act is essential to safeguarding the nation from terrorists. Nonetheless, the White House and the Senate had engaged in a week of brinkmanship, refusing to reach an accord and vowing to blame each other if the law expired.

"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," Sen. Patrick J. Leahy (D-Vt.) said in a statement. "I am pleased the Republican leadership listened to a bipartisan majority of us in the Senate on this important matter that affects all Americans."

All week, Senate leaders had privately acknowledged that there was no hope of overcoming the filibuster led by Democrats and supported by four Republicans. Bush and his top appointees, however, repeatedly called on the Senate to pass the House-approved version.

Even as the 52 senators signed a letter to Frist urging a three-month extension, Bush showed no signs of yielding early yesterday. Speaking to reporters in the morning, he reiterated his demand that the Senate accept the House-passed measure. "This obstruction is inexcusable," Bush said. "The senators obstructing the Patriot Act need to understand that the expiration of this vital law will endanger America and will leave us in a weaker position in the fight against brutal killers."

Asked in the afternoon whether Bush would veto a short-term extension of the act, White House spokesman Scott McClellan referred reporters to his Dec. 16 statement that "the president has made it very clear that he is not interested in signing any short-term renewal."

While the Senate considered the measure, Rep. Sensenbrenner showed little willingness to renegotiate the four-year extension his chamber had originally approved. "Any talk of a short-term extension is fruitless," his spokesman Jeff Lungren said several hours before the Senate six-month deal was announced. "Chairman Sensenbrenner will not accept anything less than a four-year extension of the Patriot Act."