Bush signs Patriot Act's second extension

Feb 4, 2006, 14:28 GMT

Washington - US President George W. Bush signed into law Friday a five-week extension of a contentious anti-terrorism law hours before it was due to expire.

Bush signed the extension of the Patroit Act, the White House said in a news release issued Friday evening. The bill to renew the Patriot Act through March 10 passed the US Senate 95-1 late Thursday, clearing the last legal hurdle for its second temporary extension.

Bush wants Congress to extend the law indefinitely, but a group of senators from both his Republican Party and the opposition Democrats is balking out of concern that parts of it infringe on Americans' civil liberties.

Sixteen provisions of the law were scheduled to expire December 31 of last year, but Congress extended them by five weeks in a last- minute deal after failing to work out a longer-term solution.

Congress overwhelmingly passed the law in 2001 after the September 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, but opposition to some expiring parts has arisen since then.

Among them is the so-called library provision, which allows law enforcement officials to investigate people's records without court approval.