WASHINGTON, Dec. 19 (UPI) -- U.S. Senate Democrat Leader Harry Reid said his party supports the USA Patriot Act, but wants it improved before giving the measure an extension.
President George Bush called on the Senate to pass the Patriot Act soon, as portions of the controversial law expire Dec. 31. While the House of Representatives has renewed the legislation, it is bogged down in the Senate under the threat of a Democrat-led filibuster. Some Republican senators have also voiced concern with the act.
The act was first passed in the days after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks but immediately some civil libertarians raised privacy concerns.
During a news conference Monday, Bush said the Patriot Act was an important tool in the war on terror and rapped the Democrats for stalling it. Reid, from Nevada, said Bush was playing politics with the act.
"Americans want both liberty and security," Reid said in a statement. "They are not contradictory."
He added: "There is a bipartisan coalition of senators who want a 3-month extension of the Patriot Act in its current form, so that we can pass a better bill that will have the confidence of the American people."
