Republicans offer compromise on Patriot Act renewal News
Republicans offer compromise on Patriot Act renewal

[JURIST] Two days after US House Judiciary Committee [official site] Chairman James Sensenbrenner Jr. (R-WI) [official profile] introduced a bill [HR 3199 text] to make existing provisions of the Patriot Act [JURIST news archive] permanent, Judiciary Committee members Wednesday debated a possible GOP compromise on term lengths for the new provisions. Dan Lungren (R-CA) [official website] has proposed renewing two provisions for 10 years instead of permanently: the government's power to secretly obtain private records, and the power to wiretap multiple phones used by a suspect with a warrant for only one line. Bobby Scott (D-VA) [official website] previously proposed an amendment calling for reauthorization in 2009 that was defeated along party lines; Jerrold Nadler (D-NY) [official website] offered another with a 2011 date. Sensebrenner hopes to bring the bill to the full House for a vote next week. Reuters has more.

8:30 PM ET – The House Judiciary Committee later approved the renewal legislation as amended by a vote of 23-14. The Committee has issued this press release.