Thursday, February 09, 2006

Agreement Reached on Patriot Act Extension

An AP newswire article, via MSNBC, reports that:

A band of Senate Republican holdouts reached agreement with the White House Thursday on minor changes in the Patriot Act, hoping to clear the way for passage of anti-terrorism legislation that has been stalled in a dispute over protection of civil liberties.

Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H., and three other GOP lawmakers — all of whom joined with Democrats last year to block a long-term extension of the law — were to announce their accord with the administration in a late-afternoon news conference.

One GOP official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said the legislation had been rewritten to make it clear that an individual receiving a so-called National Security Letter was not required to notify the FBI if he consulted a lawyer.

This official also said a second proposed change would clarify that only libraries that are “electronic service providers” could be required to provide information to government agents as part of a terrorist investigation.

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