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WH to study proposed Patriot Act changes

MILWAUKEE, May 19 (UPI) -- President Bush supports in principle expansion of the Patriot Act and will study a proposed, controversial provision on subpoenas, the White House said.

Spokesman Trent Duffy, speaking Thursday en route to Milwaukee with President Bush, called the act "one of the front-line tools that law enforcement uses in the domestic war on terror, and to protect the American people."

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He said he had no comments on a specific proposal reportedly being worked up in the Senate that would eliminate the need for a judicial or grand jury subpoena for seizing records in some terrorism investigations, but it was something the White House would study.

"But in general, the attorney general, as well as the Justice Department, has made clear the kinds of things we want to see extended, and the president fully backs that."

News reports Thursday quoted Senate aides as saying the new proposal was being written by Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., who is chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.

Seizure of records, however, could be challenged in court and the administration would be expected to give an accounting to Congress on how the provision was being used.

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The Patriot Act was drafted in the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on New York and Washington.

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