House Votes To Renew Patriot Act

Provisions On Wiretaps And Library Searches Limited To Ten Years

(CBS/AP) 
The roving wiretap provision, Section 206, allows investigators to obtain warrants to intercept a suspect's phone conversations or Internet traffic without limiting it to a specific phone or identifying the suspect. The records provision, Section 215, authorizes federal officials to obtain "tangible items" such as business, library and medical records.

Advocates argued that such powers already exist in criminal investigations so they should be expressly continued for terrorism investigations. They also cited safeguards in the bill, such as a requirement that a judge approve the records search.

CBS News Correspondent Bob Fuss reports no part of the Patriot Act has caused more uproar than a provision allowing the FBI to bypass normal subpoenas to secretly compel a library or bookstore to provide records of what people are reading. The FBI insists it's never used the provision but still says it needs it. A majority of the House voted against it, but Republican leaders used parliamentary maneuvers to keep it in the bill. The only change that was made was to require that the FBI director personally sign off on library or bookstore searches.

Another successful amendment calls for a 20-year jail term for an attack against a rail or mass-transit vehicle; a 30-year sentence if the vehicle carries nuclear material; and life imprisonment — with the possibility of the death penalty — if anyone is killed in such an attack.

Critics heralded the bulk of the existing law, but said the sunsets were wisely inserted amid the inflamed passions following the Sept. 11 attacks, and should be retained to assess the long-term impact of the law.

"Periodically revisiting the Patriot Act is a good thing," said Rep. Martin Meehan, D-Mass. "The Patriot Act was an effort to answer the most difficult question a democracy faces: How much freedom are we willing to give up to feel safe?"