White House attacks opposition on anti-terrorism law standoff

Jan 3, 2006, 22:44 GMT

Washington - The White House Tuesday stepped up its attacks on opposition Democrats over their refusal to extend indefinitely certain provisions of an anti-terrorism law.

President George W. Bush said Democrats are blocking the so-called Patriot Act for 'partisan reasons' after having nearly unanimously supported the law when it was first passed in 2001.

Democrats and some Republicans say the law violated certain U.S. privacy protections and civil liberties.

'Now, when it came time to renew the act, for partisan reasons, in my mind, people have not stepped up and have agreed that it's still necessary to protect the country,' Bush said at an event aimed at promoting the law. 'The enemy has not gone away - they're still there. And I expect Congress to understand that we're still at war, and they've got to give us the tools necessary to win this war.'

White House spokesman Scott McClellan was more outspoken in his criticism of the opposition.

'Democrats need to set aside politics - they're putting politics above our nation's security and they need to move forward in the Senate and let it be re-authorized,' McClellan said at a press conference Tuesday.

It was Senate Democrats, together with some members of Bush's Republican Party, who blocked the extension of the Patriot Act in December. The law was set to expire on December 31, but in a last minute compromise, it was extended by five weeks through February 3, 2006.

'They want to undermine and weaken the Patriot Act,' McClellan said, adding that Democrats are 'beholden' to outside interest groups like the American Civil Liberties Union.

While the Patriot Act passed with only one dissenting voice in the Senate in 2001, opposition to some expiring provisions of the law have arisen since then.

Among them is the so-called 'library provision,' which has allowed law enforcement officials to access a person's records without approval.