The sunsetting provisions of the USA PATRIOT Act have been extended for another six months to give senators time to research and debate what checks and balances to put into the USA PATRIOT Act before its complete renewal. This is a hard fought compromise, and it appears that President Bush will not veto it, even though he’s not too pleased.
update: I spoke too soon. The six month extension was what the Senate had passed, and was proposing. The two houses finally agreed on a five week extension.
WRT your “winter” comment, Jessamyn, a newly released USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll found that sixty-two percent of respondents either approve of the Patriot Act (44%), or think that “it does not go far enough” (18%). Only thirty-four percent answered that the law “goes too far.”
Sixty-five percent of respondents to the poll also answered that the government should take steps to prevent acts of terror only where such measures do not violate their basic civil liberties. (See questions 14 and 15).