WASHINGTON — Six weeks after the Sept. 11 attacks, Rep. C.L. "Butch" Otter of Idaho was a lone wolf -- arguing that Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft didn't need more power to fight home-grown terrorists.
Otter was the only member of Congress to argue against the USA Patriot Act when the terrorism-fighting law was debated on the House floor. But these days, the Republican has plenty of company. And the Justice Department, which in recent months has drafted a measure that would expand its powers, may be on the retreat.
Last week, the House overwhelmingly passed a measure that would repeal a portion of the Patriot Act, which had been passed while the rubble at the Pentagon and World Trade Center still smoldered. The so-called Otter amendment would take away federal investigators' power to conduct "sneak-and-peek" searches -- unannounced searches of homes and businesses.
The measure would be a small adjustment to the Patriot Act, but it indicates a growing belief among lawmakers that some investigators have abused their new powers and need to be held more strictly accountable. Those concerns may diminish any prospects for a sequel to the Patriot Act.
Whatever the final fate of the Otter amendment, the Justice Department has voiced strong objections to the measure, declaring it the "Terrorist Tip-Off Amendment" in a letter to House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) last week. No comparable measure has been introduced in the Senate, although proponents hope to find a sponsor soon.
In a speech earlier this month, however, Otter was generally optimistic, telling business and community leaders in Boise, "Things are looking up."
When Congress approved the Patriot Act about 21 months ago, the measure amounted to the legislative equivalent of a blank check. It was formally known as the "Uniting and Strengthening America Act by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism (USA PATRIOT) Act of 2001."
The sequel -- dubbed Patriot Act II by critics but never officially proposed by the department -- would have made it easier to hold suspects and deny them bail and included provisions that would set up a DNA database for people associated with terrorist groups and lift court orders barring police from spying on dissidents, among other features.
