WASHINGTON, Oct. 4 (UPI) -- The Senate next week will consider an anti-terrorism bill that omits key civil liberties safeguards included in a House version, sources familiar with the Senate bill said.
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle, D-S.D., said Thursday he would "expedite" the bill and move it directly to the Senate floor, skipping deliberations in the Senate Judiciary Committee.
"We reached a tentative agreement on anti-terrorism late last (Wednesday) night," Daschle said. "It would be my expectation that we would expedite consideration of that bill next week."
The Senate bill still being drafted by committee Chairman Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and ranking member Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, contains new authority to help the government spy on and detain suspected terrorists, similar to its counterpart passed by the House Judiciary Committee late Wednesday night by a 36-0 vote.
It also, however, contains key differences that could threaten civil liberties, critics familiar with the Senate bill said.
Under the House version of the anti-terrorism bill, the government can use expedited procedures to tap phones and trace e-mail correspondence, including the power to attach a phone tap order to an individual as opposed to a device, and avoid applying for new orders in separate jurisdictions across the country as a suspect and investigation move. It also allows the government to use rules -- originally designed to prevent espionage -- to quickly get approval from a special panel to spy on suspected terrorists.
But the bill that passed the House Judiciary Committee also sunsets -- it ends all of that power in 2003 unless Congress decides to extend it. Lawmakers in the House worried about handing government investigators so much unchecked power and thought it might be prudent to take another look in two years.
The Senate version contains similar wire-tapping provisions, but excludes a sunset, sources familiar with the bill said.
Both the Senate and House bills also allow the government to use immigration law to detain suspects for seven days before filing charges -- despite Attorney General John Ashcroft's original request to hold those suspects indefinitely. The Senate bill, however, does not require the government review a suspect's case every six months after that time. Critics said without that review, a suspect could conceivably be detained indefinitely if deportation efforts fail because the home country refused to accept the suspect back.
Hatch said late Wednesday the bill in the Senate was designed to preserve civil liberties, but still crack down on terrorism.
"I want to compliment the chairman for his efforts and am pleased to report that our agreement takes into account each of our principled beliefs and is based on our views on the proper balance between the rule of law and our civil liberties," Hatch said.
