U.S. Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales recently criticized a Senate bill placing new restrictions on law enforcement in the USA PATRIOT Act, saying the legislation would hamper the government's ability to prevent terrorist attacks.

During a meeting with editors and reporters, Gonzales said that he favored a competing House version of the antiterrorism law that included fewer restrictions on the government.

"I have a personal preference for the House version," Gonzales said. "There are certain provisions of the Senate version that make it more difficult to protect our country." He said he was hopeful that "at the end of the day . . . we will have a conference bill" that is closer to the House version of the legislation.

The Attorney General’s remarks represent the administration's sharpest criticism of the Senate legislation, which had been approved by unanimous consent of the Senate and co-sponsored by the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Arlen Specter. Up until now, officials in the Justice Department officials indicated that they preferred for the House bill while avoiding criticism of the Senate version.

Sixteen provisions of the controversial USA PATRIOT Act, which was overwhelmingly voted by Congress to enact weeks after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, will expire at the end of this year unless Congress acts. Although the majority of the law becomes permanent under either bill, the Senate legislation includes tighter restrictions on the power of the FBI in seizing business records and places a four-year time limit on two of the law's most controversial provisions.

Attorney General Gonzales said that tighter provisions of the Senate’s bill would make it difficult for investigators to conduct secret searches or obtain "roving wiretaps" in terrorism investigations. Gonzales also said the threshold for obtaining business records, including those held by libraries, and would be set too high by the Senate bill.

Portions of the PATRIOT Act have come under fire from advocacy groups, lawmakers and hundreds of local governments as intrusions on civil liberties. Attorney General Gonzales and other Justice Department officials say such fears are overblown and that no abuses have been documented.

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