Senators may have failed to extend expiring Patriot Act surveillance authorities before Sunday’s midnight deadline, but a new legislative push in the upper chamber, if successful, would not only revive government bulk collection, but also, could allow it to go on with no end in sight.
Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced on the Senate floor Monday afternoon that Republican leaders would force the chamber to consider amendments to the USA Freedom Act. Senators are expected to vote on the legislation, supported by Intelligence Committee Chair, Sen. Richard Burr (R-N.C.) on Tuesday evening.
The amendments to the USA Freedom Act would delay the handing over of record-keeping responsibilities to telecoms that the bill would eventually mandate.
One amendment, would delay the transfer of retention duties for a year. The move was offered by McConnell, in his words, to “ensure that there is adequate time to build and test a system that doesn’t yet exist.”
Another would require the Director of National Intelligence to review whatever new system is created by reforms to verify “that it actually works,” according to McConnell. The provision could allow the incumbent system of mass surveillance to continue indefinitely, should Director James Clapper withhold certification.
Another would force telecoms companies to notify the government of any plans to change their data retention policies.
McConnell and Burr are also pushing for a subtle change that could roll back some of the original USA Freedom Act’s reforms to the top-secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which authorizes much of the spy agency’s activities.
The courtesy granted by McConnell to supporters of the NSA such as himself was not extended, however, to those representing other viewpoints.
“I was denied amendments,” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said during an interview Monday with Fox News. “What we’ll find today is that no amendments will be allowed on this on our side of the coin,” he added.
Paul also declared the expiration of Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act a “big victory”—one that he helped cause Sunday night by refusing unanimous consent to proceed on USA Freedom Act debate. The law underpins some of the government’s bulk collection activities.
If the Senate acquiesces to McConnell and Burr and renews Section 215 authorities—in their pre-June form—for one year, the Senate would be paving the way for courtroom drama, considering the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last month that the dragnet was illegal.
It would also set the stage for acrimony on Capitol Hill, where the USA Freedom Act has already passed the House of Representatives by a wide margin. House Republican Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) on Monday said that the body might consider an amended version of the legislation, but said the “best option for the protection of this country is to pass our bill.”
Under the current version of the USA Freedom Act to be considered Tuesday, the government is required to unwind the program within six months.
But many civil liberties advocates say that has been overshadowed by the overall weakness of the reform package.
“They may actually be better at collecting our phone records,” Sen. Paul said during a floor speech Sunday night, claiming that the law amounts to “trading bulk collection in Utah for bulk collection under the phone company“—a reference to the NSA’s $1.5 billion data center in Bluffdale, Utah.
