The Senate rejected an effort Thursday to block the renewal of the Patriot Act, the controversial anti-terror law passed weeks after the September 11, 2001 attacks. Senator Russell Feingold (Democrat from Wisconsin) led an effort to continue discussion on the law, hoping to make several amendments. But he was defeated in a 93-7 vote after only securing support from two fellow senators, Jim Jeffords (Independent from Vermont), and Robert Byrd (Republican from West Virginia). Feingold, who stood alone in opposing the original law, said negotiations between Republican Senators and the White House had not produced a sufficiently changed act. "We still have not addressed some of the most significant problems with the Patriot Act," he said. Feingold was seeking amendments to several parts of the law that have been criticized as excessively intrusive. But his initial bi-partisan support failed after the White House met with several Republican to negotiate changes. --more 13 10 Local Time 10 10 GMT
