NH Senator Sununu Promises to Hold-Up Patriot Act

When Senator John Sununu talks about the Patriot Act, he cites a story he says he read in the the Washinton Post.

According to Sununu, the article said that thirty thousand american citizens had received national security letters from the federal government last year.

Those people were required under the US Patriot Act to give the FBI access to things like medical records, business records or library records - without a warrant from a judge.

The newest compromise in the debate to reauthorize the law would allow those served with such a national security letter to fight it with a lawyer.

But Senator Sununu says that's not enough

"i don't really think it's benevoient on the part of the government to finally allow people to get lawyers if they've been served with a national security letter. that's not what this is all about""

Sununu is part of a six member club - three democrats and three republicans.

The group is determined to make sure that controversial provisions of the patriot act don't outlive their usefulness.

When the patriot act was enacted, in the heat of the post september eleventh moment - senators voted to give the FBI and CIA wide ranging power to stop possible terrorist activity.

But now some liberals and conservatives alike say the government's gone too far.

And they've promised to block the law from being reauthorized.

"no one in the country thinks there's thirty thousand terrorists in the united states"

That's David Keene from the American Conservative Union.

Keene says he called Sununu to lend him support.

He says real conservatives are concerned when the federal government has too much control over its citizens.

And he says he doesn't expect New Hampshire's Junion Senator to receive any flak from conservative voters back home.

"I think that consituents, when they see their representative stand up for one of the tenets of american democracy, whether they agree with it or not, they respect that"

But Senator Sununu does have plenty of opposition from within his own party.

Most Senate republicans including the powerful chair of the Senate Judiciary, moderate
Republican Arlen Specter support the Patriot Act's re-authorization.

The current compromise of the bill would make sixteen of the Patriot Act's provisions permanent.

Two provisions, one allowing roving wire taps, and other allowing the National Security letters requesting personal documents, would expire in four years.

Senatro Specter says that story about the Government requesting documents from 30,000 Americans is not true.

And he urged his colleagues not to be swayed by Senator Sununu's argument.

"I hope my colleagues won't base their vote on what they read in the Washington Post and instead have a classified briefing by the justice department and find out what's going on".

Senator Sununu has promised to filibuster the bill unless the Senate makes changes.

In the meantime, he and Vermont's Senator Patrick Leahy have offered a bill to extend the current version of the patriot act for three months, so that the law doesn't expire at the end of the year.

"and the house would go along with this extension, and i hope the chairman would go along with it, and those who suggest that we are going to have no bill, well their argument has no credibility"

That extension, says Sununu, would give lawmakers time to work out their differences.

(read both --so we can run it tomorrow am.)

A filibuster could be in the offing as early as Friday.

A filibuster could be in the offing later today.

For NHPR News, I'm Julie Donnelly in Washington.