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  • Patriot Act expires as Paul blocks final vote on NSA reform

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    The Senate advanced legislation 77-17 to reform the National Security Agency on Sunday, but parts of the Patriot Act will nonetheless lapse for a few days amid opposition from Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

    The legislation, called the USA Freedom Act, will not reach President Obama’s desk until after the three measures expire at midnight, meaning that the provisions will expire until the bill is passed by the Senate and signed by Obama later this week.

    “The Patriot Act will expire tonight,” Paul declared triumphantly from the Senate floor during a rare Sunday evening vote. “It will only be temporary. They will ultimately get their way.”

    Obama has supported the measure and had repeatedly urged lawmakers to support it in the days leading up to Sunday’s deadline. The bill needed 60 votes in order to advance.

    “The Senate took an important—if late—step forward tonight,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement late Sunday. “We call on the Senate to ensure this irresponsible lapse in authorities is as short-lived as possible. On a matter as critical as our national security, individual Senators must put aside their partisan motivations and act swiftly. The American people deserve nothing less.”

    A failed gambit by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) opened the door to Paul’s use of procedural tactics to delay consideration of the bill.

    Paul had made the spying programs unearthed by former government contractor Edward Snowden a central part of his presidential candidacy and vowed to force the expiration of the Patriot Act heading into the weekend.

    Paul argues the USA Freedom Act — which was approved by the House 338-88 earlier in May — does not go far enough to rein in spying programs that he and his allies argue are unconstitutional.

    “Are we going to so blithely give up our freedom? Are we going to so blindly go along and take it?” Paul said in heated remarks on the Senate floor before the vote.

    “I’m not going to take it anymore,” he declared, as his voice rose to a shout. “I don’t think the American people are going to take it anymore.”

    Paul — who had roughly two dozen supporters crowding the gallery of the Senate in red “Stand with Rand” t-shirts — appeared to declare victory after the vote.

    “We didn’t have 60 votes before to end the bulk collection,” he told reporters after emerging from the chamber. “By slowing the process down, talking about the Patriot Act, we now will end bulk collection of records by the government.”

    McConnell introduced a handful of amendments Sunday evening on behalf of himself and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.). Paul and Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) has also attempted to bring up amendments of their own, but they were blocked.

    Paul’s opposition will push votes on both those amendments and the final bill back to Tuesday at the earliest, and potentially Wednesday.

    The House would then either need to vote on the new bill or hash out the details in a conference committee.

    Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) — an NSA critic — warned senators against adding amendments to the legislation that could potentially weaken the bill in the eyes of its supporters.

    “On the House side there’s not support for a more watered down version of the Freedom Act,” he said. “If they want to get something passed through the House they need to make it better not worse.”

    Tensions between Paul and other Senate Republicans were evident throughout Sunday’s proceedings — particularly when the Kentucky Republican sought to speak in opposition to the bill when Sens. Dan Coates (R-Ind.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.) were holding the floor.

    “The senator from Kentucky needs to learn the rules of the Senate,” McCain said.

    “Maybe the senator from Kentucky should know the rules of the Senate.”

    Paul a little more than a week ago blocked the Senate from considering a short-term extension of the Patriot Act, which also could have prevented a lapse in the program if the House had found a way to consider it.

    Paul at the time blocked motions by McConnell, his Kentucky colleague, who had sought to win the short-term extension. The clash was remarkable given McConnell’s support of Paul’s presidential bid.

    Source: Patriot Act expires as Paul blocks final vote on NSA reform


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  • The Weird End of the NSA’s Phone Dragnet

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    In the wee hours of Saturday morning, the U.S. Senate played host to a moment that took mass surveillance on the phone records of Americans from outrage to farce.

    The NSA’s phone dragnet had already been declared illegal.

    Earlier this month, a federal appeals court ruled that while the surveillance agency has long claimed to be acting in accordance with Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the text of that law in fact authorizes no such program. The Obama Administration has been executing a policy that the legislature never passed into being.

    But the law that doesn’t even authorize the program is set to expire at the end of the month. And so the court reasoned that Congress could let it expire or vote to change it. For this reason, the court declined to issue an order shutting the program down.

    President Obama didn’t shut the program down either. One might think the illegality of its ongoing operations would bother him, but he’s effectively punted to Congress too.

    Days ago, the House of Representatives acted: they voted overwhelmingly, 338 to 88, “to end the National Security Agency’s mass collection of phone records from millions of Americans with no ties to terrorism,” passing the USA Freedom Act, an effort “to rein in NSA surveillance while renewing key sections of the… Patriot Act.” The bill divided civil libertarians, some of whom thought it didn’t go far enough because the government could still access bulk data held by phone companies.

    That brings us to the wee hours of Saturday morning. “After vigorous debate and intense last-minute pressure by Republican leaders, the Senate on Saturday rejected legislation that would end the federal government’s bulk collection of phone records,” The New York Times reports. “With the death of that measure — passed overwhelmingly in the House — senators then scrambled to hastily pass a short-term measure to keep the program from going dark when it expires June 1 but failed.”

    The outcome is good for civil libertarians: the House is in recess; barring the unexpected, the phone dragnet will end June 1, when key provisions of the Patriot Act expire. And Senator Rand Paul seems to deserve extra credit for that outcome: “The measure failed in the Senate 57 to 42, with 12 Republicans voting for it, shortly after midnight because Mr. Paul, a candidate for the White House, dragged the procedure out as he promised to do in fund-raising tweets and emails.”

    Source: The Weird End of the NSA’s Phone Dragnet


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  • Paul disrupts Senate endgame

    Posted on by Azrael Comment

    The Senate’s frenzied efforts to finish work on controversial trade and national security legislation are being complicated by a Rand Paul filibuster launched Wednesday.

    Sen. Paul’s (R-Ky.) filibuster hampers the GOP-led Senate’s efforts to pass the big-ticket items before the Memorial Day recess. The new twist in this week’s Senate deliberations is a huge test for Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who is a Paul ally.

    Paul, who is running for the GOP presidential nomination, began speaking on the Senate floor against the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs in the middle of a debate over fast-track trade legislation.
    Paul’s move will require McConnell to get a series of unanimous-consent agreements if he is to stick to his timeline of passing fast-track and an extension of the Patriot Act this week. Any one senator can block such an agreement, and there are many who feel strongly about trade and the nation’s spying powers. Senate officials say there is a chance proceedings could extend well into the holiday weekend.

    Aides say fast-track and a short-term extension of surveillance authority likely have the votes to pass the upper chamber. But the Senate might not have enough time to get the bills done over the next couple of days.

    Furthermore, key provisions of the Patriot Act expire June 1, and lawmakers are not scheduled to return to Washington before then. The House, meanwhile, is expected to leave town Thursday.

    House GOP leaders note they have passed an NSA reform bill, which is backed by most congressional Democrats and President Obama. McConnell and other Senate Republicans strongly oppose it.

    Senate Democrats, who have been extremely divided over trade this month, have shifted strategies. Instead of focusing on fast-track, they are now talking much more about NSA reform — which has pitted Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) against McConnell.

    Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), who often serves as a bellwether of the Democratic caucus, said she planned to vote in favor of advancing fast-track on Thursday. Democrats who oppose the trade bill acknowledge it has the votes to pass eventually.

    But senators will have to decide whether they want to spend the recess in the Capitol instead of barbecuing or attending parades in their home states.

    On Wednesday, McConnell told reporters he planned to “grind” ahead. He told his colleagues that he would keep the Senate in session through the three-day weekend if that’s what it takes to get its work done.

    “Mitch is being smart. With all these games going on back-and-forth, he’s telling people we’re going to be here as long as it takes. That’s going to put pressure on people to compromise,” a Republican senator said after a meeting of the Senate GOP steering committee.

    In the last Congress, Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.), then Senate majority leader, often threatened to work though weekends. Many times, Reid would back off or deals would be struck in time for members to catch their planes back home.

    But McConnell is now running the Senate, and he plays his cards very close to the chest.

    A GOP leadership aide said that no matter what, the pending bills would be addressed before the Senate adjourns.

    The Senate will vote on cloture to a legislative package that includes the substance of the trade language. Without cooperation from the entire Senate, a combined 60 hours of procedural time would have to elapse before a final vote on fast-track.

    Paul’s filibuster, however, threw the endgame into confusion; he launched into an open-ended talkathon, relieved at times by Sens. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah).

    Colleagues at press time had little idea how long he would keep control over the floor.

    Source: Paul disrupts Senate endgame


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