THE Senate sped toward passage on Tuesday, June 2 of legislation to end the National Security Agency’s collection of Americans’ calling records while preserving other surveillance authorities.
However, leaders of the House warned the Senate to not proceed with planned changes to a House version.
Kevin McCarthy of California, the House majority leader, said amendments contemplated by the Senate “would bring real challenges” in getting the House to go along.
“The best way to make sure America is protected is for the Senate to pass the USA Freedom Act,” he said, referring to the House version.
The US Freedom Act, also widely known as the Patriot Act, preserves the government’s ability to obtain more limited amounts of phone records. The program was begun in secret by the Bush administration after the September 2001 terrorist attacks. But after its existence was leaked in 2013 by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, the public outcry forced President Obama to call for an end to the agency’s collection of millions of records, while seeking a way to preserve its access to the ones it needs.
The Senate version of that bill cleared a procedural hurdle Tuesday by a vote of 83-14, and it was expected to pass the Senate by the end of the day. However, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said he planned votes on three modifications.
The law authorizing government bulk collection and storage of Americans’ phone records expired at midnight on Sunday, May 31. The NSA stopped gathering the records from phone companies just hours before the deadline. Other post-9/11 surveillance provisions considered more effective than the phone-data collection program also lapsed, leading intelligence officials to warn of critical gaps.
Those other provisions include the FBI’s authority to gather business records in investigations involving terrorism and espionage, and to more easily eavesdrop on a suspect who is discarding cellphones to avoid surveillance.
During a closed-door House GOP meeting on Tuesday morning, several members expressed deep concerns about the planned Senate amendments. Rep. James Sensenbrenner, of Wisconsin, called the changes a “poison pill” during the House meeting.
Republican Sen. John Barrasso of Wyoming attended the meeting to represent Senate leaders, indicating that the message was received, according to an aide.
On the Senate floor, John Cornyn (R-Texas) urged senators not to turn their backs on what he characterized as an effort to improve the bill “because of some fantasy the House will simply reject any changes at all.”
The bill before the Senate would reauthorize several surveillance provisions that have expired. But it would phase out NSA phone records collection over time. It passed the House overwhelmingly and is backed by President Barack Obama. Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who doesn’t believe it goes far enough, blocked consideration on Sunday night.
If the measure becomes law over the next few days, the NSA will resume gathering the phone records, but only for a transition period of six months in the House version, or a year in the proposed Senate amendment.
If the bill fails amid congressional politics, the collection cannot resume, period.
The amendments proposed by Sen. Richard Burr, the North Carolina Republican who chairs the intelligence committee, were designed, he said, to win quick House approval. One requires the director of national intelligence to certify that the NSA can effectively search records held by the phone companies in terrorism investigations. Another would require the phone companies to notify the government if they change their policy on how long they held the records.
A third, to extend the transition from six months to 12 months, promises to be controversial.
Still another proposed GOP amendment would reverse a House proposal to make public major rulings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court. Senate Democrats rose to oppose that proposal, arguing that keeping the rulings from public view allows for the creation of “secret law.” One reason the phone records collection was so controversial, they argue, is that it was done under a secret legal interpretation of the Patriot Act.
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), the ranking Democrat on the House intelligence committee, accused Senate Republicans of engaging in “the politics of saving face,” adding that the amendments “may tank the US Freedom Act in the House.”
NSA officials have said they have “no problem” with ending their collection of phone records, as long as they can continue to search the data held by the companies, which the legislation allows them to do.
The Freedom Act doesn’t address the vast majority of Snowden’s disclosed classified information, which concern NSA mass surveillance of global internet traffic that often sweeps in American communication. (With reports from The Associated Press)
