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As the White House threatens a veto, the House of Representatives voted against provisions of the Act.

The House voted to restrict investigators from using the Patriot Act to review library records and sales slips from bookstores.

Privacy and civil liberties activists have been calling upon lawmakers to make changes to the Patriot Act, which was passed in the wake of the horrific 9/11 attacks.

While the reading habits of library users will be protected under the recent House vote, the body did amend the proposal this year to let the government continue to request Internet use records and logfiles from libraries. A proposal last year that would have included restricting the government from seeking Internet usage information narrowly lost its vote.

In a letter to lawmakers, the Justice Department claims that through March 30, investigators had not used the Patriot Act to obtain library or bookstore records, according to the Associated Press.

Supporters of the act want to prevent making libraries a "safe haven" for terrorists planning their acts.

"If there are terrorists in libraries studying how to fly planes, how to put together biological weapons, how to put together chemical weapons, nuclear weapons, ... we have to have an avenue through the federal court system so that we can stop the attack before it occurs," said Rep. Tom Feeney, R-Fla.

David Utter is a staff writer for WebProNews covering technology and business. Email him here.