Congress, galvanized by threats to homeland security on multiple fronts, cleared a major counter-terrorism crime bill Thursday and readied further action on bioterrorism and aviation safety.
The Senate's 98-1 vote to send the counter-terror bill to the White House for President Bush's signature capped lengthy deliberations over new powers for law enforcement and intelligence agencies, including expanded authority to eavesdrop on phone conversations and trace Internet use of suspected terrorists. The legislation drew sharp criticism from some civil liberties advocates but overwhelming bipartisan support from both houses of Congress.
Prime motivations for these and other measures are to fight fear, congressional leaders say, and to get the country moving again.
\Until we solve people's security concerns, we are not going to solve our economic problems,"" said Rep. Richard Gephardt, D-Mo., the House minority leader. ""And so in a way, the security bills are more important than economic stimulus because it's going to take that psychological lift, if you will, to get America's economy back on track.""
The lone dissenter in Thursday's vote on the counter-terror bill was Sen. Russell Feingold, D-Wis., who has repeatedly criticized the measure as an incursion on constitutionally protected civil liberties.
