Playing Chicken with National Security

With the debate continuing on the reauthorization of the Patriot Act, President Bush has been quite unhelpful by accusing those who want to fully debate the extension of the Patriot Act, and hope to change it so that it is effective without jeopardizing civil liberties, of damaging national security. However, as Reuters reports, Bush and Congressional Republicans have opposed extending the Patriot Act in its current form for three months, while the reauthorization is debated. The only exception is Sen. Kyl (R-AZ), who has proposed a 1-year extension, which is more time than necessary to debate the reauthorization. The response from the most credible opponent of parts of the Patriot Act, Russ Feingold is that "it's the president who wants to play chicken here[...]It's clear that the president is the one who is playing politics". If the Republicans are satisfied that the Patriot Act is defensible, why are they afraid of continuing debate?