The New York Times is reporting the White House urged Republican lawmakers last month to scrap a legislative measure that would have imposed new restrictions on the use of extreme interrogation measures by CIA officers. The Senate had approved the new restrictions, by a 96-to-2 vote, as part of the intelligence reform legislation. But in closed-door negotiations, Congressional officials deleted the restrictions from the final bill after the White House expressed opposition. One Congressional Democrat told the Times that the White House stance had left the impression “that the administration wanted an escape hatch to preserve the option of using torture” against prisoners held by the C.I.A.