In an interview Monday with the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Rep. Sensenbrenner, a Republican,

said he would "start blowing a fuse" unless Ashcroft's Justice Department gives answers by Labor Day week to 50 written questions about the act raised by the House Judiciary Committee in June.

If the committee still doesn't have the answers by then, Sensenbrenner said, he may take the unusual step of issuing a subpoena to Ashcroft to force him to testify before the Judiciary Committee, which Sensenbrenner heads. He noted that the department already has missed two deadlines issued earlier by Congress for answering the questions.

....The subpoena threat isn't the only weapon Sensenbrenner is wielding.

Sensenbrenner said he told Ashcroft during a summer social event: "Look, there's a sunset in the Patriot Act. If you want to play 'I've got a secret,' good luck getting the Patriot Act extended. Because if you've got a bipartisan anger in the Congress, the sunset will come and go and the Patriot Act disappears."

The act automatically expires in late 2005 unless Congress votes to extend it.

Giving Sensenbrenner's position on the Patriot Act data some perspective is his position on a related matter:

he said he doesn't favor blanket release of the names of the foreign detainees arrested since the act went into effect. A judge should make the decision on a case-by-case basis with the burden on the government to prove secrecy was necessary, Sensenbrenner said.

The issue is pending before a federal appeals court.

Isn't this a man with whom Ashcroft should be trying to work?