U.S. President George W. Bush asked Congress on Saturday for a prompt vote to extend an anti-terrorism law created after the Sept. 11 attacks, calling it a "strong weapon" for fighting terrorism, Reuters reported. "The Patriot Act has proved essential to fighting the war on terror and preventing our enemies from striking America again," Bush said in his weekly radio address. "Now Congress needs to finish the job," he said. "Both the Senate and the House need to hold a prompt vote, and send me a bill renewing the Patriot Act so I can sign it into law." The law expanded the government's powers to track terrorism suspects after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. Critics say it does not adequately protect civil liberties because it makes it easier for authorities to infringe on the privacy of Americans not involved in terrorism. "Over the past four years, the Patriot Act has been a strong weapon for going after the terrorists," Bush said. He said it had been used to prosecute "terrorist operatives and supporters or break up terror cells" in New York, Oregon, Virginia, California, Texas, and Ohio. "The Patriot Act is helping America defeat our enemies while safeguarding civil liberties for all our people," Bush said. "In the war on terror, we cannot afford to be without this vital law for a single moment," he said.
