Senate votes to renew Patriot Act

JAKE SHERMAN
POLITICO
Thursday, February 25th, 2010

The Senate Wednesday evening passed a one-year extension to the Patriot Act, a Bush-era homeland security law that has been much maligned by Democrats but described by Republicans as key to the war on terror.

Several key components of the law are set to expire Sunday, including wire-tapping, surveillance and seizure provisions. If passed by the House, they will expire on Feb. 28, 2011.

The law was passed by voice vote, which does not require debate on the Senate floor.

Democrats have been extremely critical of the law, which has been described as overreaching and reactionary. Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), in a statement Wednesday, said he “would have preferred to add oversight and judicial review improvements” to the act’s renewal.

"The time for war has not yet come, but it will come and that soon, and when it does come, my advice is to draw the sword and throw away the scabbard." Gen. T.J. Jackson, March 1861