A deal has been worked out on an extension of the Patriot Act.
WASHINGTON (AP) – Several Senate Republicans who are key to extension of the terror-fighting Patriot Act have reached a tentative agreement with the White House on a compromise version, congressional officials said Thursday.
Sen. John Sununu, R-N.H. and three other GOP lawmakers who had been at odds with the Bush administration on a longterm extension of this key law were expected to announce details of the accord later Thursday.
No immediate details were available on the changes they wrung from the White House. These Republicans had joined a Democratic-led filibuster late last year that blocked passage at the time of a bill extending the life of the law. Critics claimed that the versions before Congress would have given shortshrift treatment to people’s civil liberties.
The devil is in the details. Hopefully, the bending the Bush administration had to do was limited in its scope. Frankly, it’s maddening that a few left leaning “Republicans” have held the Patriot Act hostage for this long.