McConnell worked hard to build opposition to the House bill, which he has criticized as a hurdle to intelligence gathering. But he lost supporters as senators coalesced around the House bill, 77 to 17, in a procedural vote to advance the bill on Sunday. The leader had wanted to simply extend the provisions of the Patriot Act, but Paul – eight days ago and on Sunday – blocked even short-term extensions.
Republicans blamed Paul rather than the leader for the expiration.
“I’m sure we’re not going to let the whole program lapse, but because Senator Paul is taking advantage of the rules of the Senate, [we] will delay and there will be an interim period where the nation is less secure,” Sen. John McCain ® of Arizona, said on Sunday.
Democrats see things differently. Minority leader Harry Reid of Nevada faulted McConnell, blaming him for a “manufactured crisis” by waiting to bring up the Patriot Act provisions until just before the Senate’s Memorial Day recess – a week before their expiration.
The expired provisions, subject to a “sunset” clause from the beginning of June onwards, are likely to be replaced later this week with new legislation – the USA Freedom Act – that permanently bans the NSA from collecting telephone records in bulk and introduces new transparency rules for other surveillance activities. The USA Freedom Act, once passed, will be the first rollback of NSA surveillance since the seminal 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
But until then, in addition to the expiration of the NSA’s phone records collection, the FBI is prevented from using powers granted under the Patriot Act, including the pursuit of so-called “business records” relating to internet use, hotel and rental car records and credit card statements.
Both developments represent a remarkable capitulation for the Republican Senate majority leader, Mitch McConnell, who had initially sought to simply extend the Patriot Act provisions, despite overwhelming support in the House of Representatives for the USA Freedom Act.
McConnell and his colleagues who opposed reform were thwarted in their efforts by a growing backlash by Senate Republicans and, in particular, his Kentucky colleague, Senator Rand Paul.
Although the lapse in the programs may be brief, intelligence officials warned that it could jeopardize Americans' safety and amount to a win for extremists. But civil liberties groups applauded as Paul, who is running for president, forced the expiration of the once-secret program made public by NSA contractor Edward Snowden, which critics say is an unconstitutional intrusion into Americans' privacy.
The Senate voted 77-17 to move ahead on the House-passed bill, the USA Freedom Act, which only last weekend fell three votes short of the 60 needed to advance in the Senate. For McConnell, it was a remarkable retreat after objecting ferociously that the House bill would make the bulk phone collections program dangerously unwieldy by requiring the government to search records maintained by phone companies.
"It's not ideal but, along with votes on some modest amendments that attempt to ensure the program can actually work as promised, it's now the only realistic way forward," McConnell said.
The White House backs the House bill. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said in a statement: "The Senate took an important — if late — step forward tonight. 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 USA Freedom Act is a bill originally introduced in both houses of the U.S. Congress on October 29, 2013. The title of the act is a ten-letter backronym (USA FREEDOM) that stands for "Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ending Eavesdropping, Dragnet-collection and Online Monitoring Act."
The bill was re-introduced in the 114th Congress, receiving support for acting as "a balanced approach" while being questioned for amendments and extending the Patriot Act through the end of 2019. Supporters of the bill say the most the House Intelligence Committee and House leadership would allow is ending bulk collection under Section 215 of the Patriot Act until Section 702 of FISA comes up for review at the end of 2017. Critics assert that mass surveillance of the content of Americans' communication will continue under Section 702 of FISA and Executive Order 12333 due to the "unstoppable surveillance-industrial complex" despite the fact that a bipartisan majority of the House had previously voted to close backdoor mass surveillance.
“We are right now, and I know it’s hard to believe when you see some cable news stations, when you see Congress threatening to adjourn before fixing the PATRIOT Act, the fact of the matter is we are on the threshold of a new era of American progress,” said O’Malley, the former governor of Maryland, in part of a longer answer about how he would break the gridlock in Washington since 2011. (snip)
When it comes to Paul’s push in Washington, however, O’Malley stands in the mainstream. In a brief Q&A with reporters after the house party, he told BuzzFeed News Congress needs to pass the USA Freedom Act, which has been pitched by supporters as a package to reform the PATRIOT Act. USA Freedom is supported by the White House and a bipartisan coalition in Congress and viewed with skepticism by libertarians and progressives who say it doesn't do enough to shut down domestic spying programs they say are in conflict with the Constitution. O’Malley said he supported the package but proposed a couple of additional measures he said would go farther, such as a public advocate in FISA courts, the secret judiciary that rules on government surveillance requests.
Quote by Scoopster:
Mornin' all..
Beau Biden
Quote by TriSec:
Greetings, comrades.
Got my dose of flag-waving, warmongering, Patriotism in yesterday...close enough to the flight line to get a faceful of exhaust as the Blue Angels taxied by. The weather held right to the end of the day.
Sen. @lindseygrahamsc (R-SC) Presidential Campaign Announcement – LIVE at 10:30am ET on C-SPAN http://t.co/FsJRwebDCR pic.twitter.com/CEoly2ku6x
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 1, 2015
Quote by Raine:
My Stahs and Gahters, I am so delighted!Sen. @lindseygrahamsc (R-SC) Presidential Campaign Announcement – LIVE at 10:30am ET on C-SPAN http://t.co/FsJRwebDCR pic.twitter.com/CEoly2ku6x
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 1, 2015
Quote by TriSec:
Oh, and Beau Biden?
How truly disgusting and depraved the right has become. If you haven't waded into any comment cesspools this weekend...don't.
Quote by wickedpam:Quote by Raine:
My Stahs and Gahters, I am so delighted!Sen. @lindseygrahamsc (R-SC) Presidential Campaign Announcement – LIVE at 10:30am ET on C-SPAN http://t.co/FsJRwebDCR pic.twitter.com/CEoly2ku6x
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 1, 2015
Fainting couches will be provided for all.
Quote by TriSec:
Oh, and Beau Biden?
How truly disgusting and depraved the right has become. If you haven't waded into any comment cesspools this weekend...don't.
Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by Scoopster:
Mornin' all..
Beau Biden
And the every klassy conservative Twitter response.
Quote by Raine:
My Stahs and Gahters, I am so delighted!Sen. @lindseygrahamsc (R-SC) Presidential Campaign Announcement – LIVE at 10:30am ET on C-SPAN http://t.co/FsJRwebDCR pic.twitter.com/CEoly2ku6x
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 1, 2015
Quote by wickedpam:
*side eyes Ted Cruz* I'm more of a gamer then he is.
Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by wickedpam:
*side eyes Ted Cruz* I'm more of a gamer then he is.
Ted Cruz gamer?
Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by Raine:
My Stahs and Gahters, I am so delighted!Sen. @lindseygrahamsc (R-SC) Presidential Campaign Announcement – LIVE at 10:30am ET on C-SPAN http://t.co/FsJRwebDCR pic.twitter.com/CEoly2ku6x
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 1, 2015
:in impossibly thick southern accent: Shall we repair to veranda and watch the announcement with some lemonade? :fans self: :shabby linen suit:
Quote by Raine:I want him to say:Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by Raine:
My Stahs and Gahters, I am so delighted!Sen. @lindseygrahamsc (R-SC) Presidential Campaign Announcement – LIVE at 10:30am ET on C-SPAN http://t.co/FsJRwebDCR pic.twitter.com/CEoly2ku6x
— CSPAN (@cspan) June 1, 2015
:in impossibly thick southern accent: Shall we repair to veranda and watch the announcement with some lemonade? :fans self: :shabby linen suit:
I Do Declare!
Many people have gone through things like that. But because I had the incredible good fortune of an extended family, grounded in love and loyalty, imbued with a sense of obligation imparted to each of us, I not only got help. But by focusing on my sons, I found my redemption.
I can remember my mother -- a sweet lady -- looking at me, after we left the hospital, and saying, Joey, out of everything terrible that happens to you, something good will come if you look hard enough for it. She was right.
The incredible bond I have with my children is the gift I’m not sure I would have had, had I not been through what I went through. Who knows whether I would have been able to appreciate at that moment in my life, the heady moment in my life, what my first obligation was.
So I began to commute -- never intending to stay in Washington. And that's the God’s truth. I was supposed to be sworn in with everyone else that year in ’73, but I wouldn’t go down. So Mansfield thought I’d change my mind and not come, and he sent up the secretary of the Senate to swear me in, in the hospital room with my children.
And I began to commute thinking I was only going to stay a little while -- four hours a day, every day -- from Washington to Wilmington, which I’ve done for over 37 years. I did it because I wanted to be able to kiss them goodnight and kiss them in the morning the next day. No, “Ozzie and Harriet†breakfast or great familial thing, just climb in bed with them. Because I came to realize that a child can hold an important thought, something they want to say to their mom and dad, maybe for 12 or 24 hours, and then it’s gone. And when it’s gone, it’s gone. And it all adds up.
But looking back on it, the truth be told, the real reason I went home every night was that I needed my children more than they needed me. Some at the time wrote and suggested that Biden can't be a serious national figure. If he was, he’d stay in Washington more, attend to more important events. It’s obvious he’s not serious. He goes home after the last vote.
Quote by BobR:
There are some reports floating around that Saudi Arabia used a nuclear weapon on Yemen. I am not convinced. I suspect it was something else, but be prepared for the fall-out (pun intended) of this.
Quote by BobR:
There are some reports floating around that Saudi Arabia used a nuclear weapon on Yemen. I am not convinced. I suspect it was something else, but be prepared for the fall-out (pun intended) of this.
Quote by Raine:
I need a confirm or debunk on this. Please help.
Quote by Raine:
I need a confirm or debunk on this. Please help.
Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by Raine:
I need a confirm or debunk on this. Please help.
Southern Poverty Law Center says Veteran's today is bullshit.
Quote by Scoopster:Quote by Raine:
I need a confirm or debunk on this. Please help.
Was just on this page myself.
1) the story's source is Pravda. Nuff said.
2) Nuclear blasts create an electromagnetic pulse, which would fry any electronic device within its blast radius. Yet in the video, the phone keeps recording without a problem.
Quote by Raine:Ih I knew that from a long time ago.Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by Raine:
I need a confirm or debunk on this. Please help.
Southern Poverty Law Center says Veteran's today is bullshit.
That says a lot to me about that particular site.
It's kinda messed up that they are saying that this supposed attack was because of an Israeli Nuke sold to the saudi's.
Quote by Raine:Ih I knew that from a long time ago.Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by Raine:
I need a confirm or debunk on this. Please help.
Southern Poverty Law Center says Veteran's today is bullshit.
That says a lot to me about that particular site.
It's kinda messed up that they are saying that this supposed attack was because of an Israeli Nuke sold to the saudi's.
“Throughout her career, Hillary Clinton has been inspired by FDR’s belief that America is stronger when we summon the work and talents of all Americans and has long admired Eleanor Roosevelt as a role model.â€
Quote by Mondobubba:
In other news Caitlyn Jenner is on the cover of Vanity Fair.
Quote by Raine:Wow, so that is her name!Quote by Mondobubba:
In other news Caitlyn Jenner is on the cover of Vanity Fair.
I knew Annie would do a great jobs the photography. I wish the best for Ms. Jenner on finding her truth.
Quote by Mondobubba:
Scoop, have you seen the cinematic triumph that is "Kung Fury" yet?
Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by Raine:Wow, so that is her name!Quote by Mondobubba:
In other news Caitlyn Jenner is on the cover of Vanity Fair.
I knew Annie would do a great jobs the photography. I wish the best for Ms. Jenner on finding her truth.
She looks stunning. Annie Lebowitz is a true artist.
Quote by wickedpam:Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by Raine:Wow, so that is her name!Quote by Mondobubba:
In other news Caitlyn Jenner is on the cover of Vanity Fair.
I knew Annie would do a great jobs the photography. I wish the best for Ms. Jenner on finding her truth.
She looks stunning. Annie Lebowitz is a true artist.
For some reason she reminds me a little of Jacqueline Bisset
Quote by Raine:I thought Jessica lange, but it doesn't matter, This is Caitlyn Jenner!Quote by wickedpam:Quote by Mondobubba:Quote by Raine:Wow, so that is her name!Quote by Mondobubba:
In other news Caitlyn Jenner is on the cover of Vanity Fair.
I knew Annie would do a great jobs the photography. I wish the best for Ms. Jenner on finding her truth.
She looks stunning. Annie Lebowitz is a true artist.
For some reason she reminds me a little of Jacqueline Bisset