WASHINGTON -- Key Republicans from the House and Senate reached a White House-backed compromise Thursday to renew the broad powers granted to law-enforcement agencies in the days after the 2001 terrorist attacks on American soil.
GOP leaders pledged to pass the Patriot Act extension for President Bush's signature by the holidays, although bipartisan criticism flared. Sen. Russell Feingold (D-Wisconsin) threatened to filibuster a bill he said lacked adequate safeguards to protect constitutional freedoms.
"We hammered out what I think is a good bill.... Not a perfect bill, but a good bill," said Sen. Arlen Specter, the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, who announced the compromise at a news conference in the Capitol.
Rep. James Sensenbrenner, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said the measure would assist "in the detection, disruption and dismantling of terrorist cells before they strike."
Important parts involve the ability of law-enforcement officials to gain access to a wealth of personal data, including library records, as part of investigations into suspected terrorist activity.
The measure provides a four-year extension of the government's ability to conduct roving wiretaps -- which may involve multiple phones -- and to seek access to many of the personal records covered by the bill.
Also extended for four years is the power to wiretap "lone wolf" terrorists who may operate on their own, without control from a foreign agent or power.
White House officials signaled their satisfaction, and Specter (R-Pennsylvania) has credited Vice President Dick Cheney with intervening this week to help bring the House and Senate together.
Critics from the left and right said the legislation was a bad deal.
"Taking away our rights does not make us safer," said Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont), one of several lawmakers in both parties demanding changes in the measure.
Six critics, three from each party, said in a statement, "We still can, and must, make sure that our laws give law-enforcement agents the tools they need while providing safeguards to protect the constitutional rights of all Americans."
Feingold, one of the six, went further.
"I will do everything I can, including a filibuster," to block passage, said the Wisconsin Democrat, the lone senator to vote against the original legislation passed in 2001.
Under a filibuster, 60 votes are required to block a vote on final passage.
Republicans said they intended to proceed without further changes. Some aides, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that purely in political terms, they relished the prospect of Democrats trying to block an extension of antiterrorism legislation.
"We should unite in a bipartisan way to support the Patriot Act, to stand up for freedom, and against terror," said Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-Tennessee).
The agreement capped weeks of fits and starts, and came after a day of confusion and mixed signals.
Specter held a late-morning news conference to hail the compromise and confidently predicted that the five other Senate Republican negotiators involved in talks with the House would back the deal.
But within a few hours, a House Judiciary Committee aide circulated an e-mail notice citing a "misrepresentation by Sen. Specter's office" and saying the legislation was unlikely to be completed this week.
Several Republican officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, said GOP Sens. Jeff Sessions of Alabama and Jon Kyl of Arizona had not yet given their approval.
Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin), who had made last-minute concessions reluctantly, refused to answer questions on the subject.
Leahy held a news conference where he and other Democrats urged Republicans to agree to a three-month extension of the existing law, to give time to consider a longer-term measure. "This is too important to the American people to rush through a flawed bill to meet some deadline that we have the ability to extend," he said.
By late afternoon, several officials said Kyl and Sessions were supporting the measure. One official said that before giving their approval, the two senators wanted to know why the measure contained four-year extensions instead of the seven-year renewals in an earlier compromise, even though the change had failed to persuade Leahy to drop his opposition to the overall bill.
These officials spoke on condition of anonymity, saying they were not authorized to provide details of private conversations.
It was the second time in less than a month that Republicans had claimed agreement on a new Patriot Act. The legislation is designed to give law enforcement the tools it needs to conduct complicated investigations against elusive terrorists without sacrificing the liberties of law-abiding citizens.
That accord foundered when Leahy balked and Specter sought changes from Sensenbrenner and other House Republicans in hopes of bringing Leahy along.
Under the measure announced during the day, law-enforcement officials could continue to obtain secret access to a variety of personal records from businesses, hospitals and other organizations, including libraries.
Access is obtained by order of a secret court established under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The recipient of the request for information is subject to a gag order that cannot be challenged in court, according to officials.
Specter said the draft legislation would, for the first time, require the law-enforcement agent to present a judge with a "statement of fact" showing the request was relevant to an antiterrorism investigation. Critics said other provisions rendered the requirement virtually meaningless.
On a second issue, relating to a National Security Letter, government investigators could gain access to a more-limited range of personal records without a court order of any type.
The recipient of the letter -- a bank, for example -- would have the explicit right to challenge the government's request in court, as well as the right to consult a lawyer without having to notify the FBI it had done so.
A third section of the measure applies to all criminal cases and gives the government 30 days to provide notice that it has carried out a search warrant.
