Senators supporting passage of the USA FREEDOM Act report they’re close to rounding up the votes needed to advance major National Security Agency reform to the floor Tuesday.
The bipartisan coalition led by Vermont Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy — the bill’s chief sponsor in the upper chamber — said in a New York Times report Tuesday that they’re close to convincing 60 of their colleagues to vote yes on a motion to advanced the bill to the floor following a vote on the Keystone XL pipeline Tuesday evening. (RELATED: Apple, Google, Facebook, Others Urge Senate To Pass NSA Reform Ahead Of Tuesday Vote)
A vote on advancement is expected to be close, and if passed, Democratic Senate Majority leader Harry Reid has pledged to allow senators an opportunity to propose amendments to the bill once it’s brought to the floor. Reid’s move opens a possibility for major changes to the legislation, which could bring lawmakers opposed to the bill over concerns of harming national security onboard for passage, or sacrifice the votes of early supporters in favor of even tougher reforms.
The House version of the bill met a similar fate earlier this year, leaving some of its strongest reforms on the cutting room floor in order to secure votes in the final moments prior to passage. (RELATED: House Passes ‘Gutted’ NSA Surveillance Reform Bill)
Republicans in the Senate Intelligence Committee including Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Georgia Sen. Saxby Chambliss claim the bill threatens to hinder crucial national security efforts used to combat terrorist groups like the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria. Others including Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul plan to vote against the bill in its current form because it doesn’t go far enough in rolling back surveillance powers granted to agencies like NSA in the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act and USA PATRIOT Act.
Democratic Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein — a staunch supporter of such surveillance powers in the wake of the Snowden leaks last year — said in a Hill report Monday she’s “not necessarily” against the bill, implying changes at the last minute could convince her to vote favorably. Arizona Republican Sen. John McCain, who will lead the Senate Armed Services Committee after Republicans take over the upper chamber next year, said he had not “looked at the bill lately,” and would decide Tuesday.
McCain was originally opposed to the bill along with Republican Sens. Orrin Hatch of Utah and Lindsay Graham of South Carolina, who sits on the Leahy-chaired Senate Judiciary Committee and wants to start from square one on the bill next year.
The White House repeated its support for the bill in a statement Monday, lauding provisions to both preserve surveillance powers for national security interests and guarantee privacy protections for American citizens. However, White House interest goes beyond striking a balance — without passage of the FREEDOM Act reauthorizing expanded surveillance powers originally granted via the PATRIOT Act, all of those powers will disappear entirely when the act expires next June.
The USA FREEDOM Act ends the agency’s bulk collection of telephone records and storage, and moves such records into the hands of service providers, forcing the agency to obtain specific warrants to search the data. Additional provisions require the signals intelligence agency to implement specific terms into search requests — this is in contrast to the House bill, which some argued made it easier for NSA to conduct bulk searches for anyone falling under generic information like ZIP codes.(RELATED: NSA Reform Bill Could Allow The Agency To Spy On More Phone Calls)
The bill also adds privacy and civil liberties advocates to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which approves secret government warrants for searches.
Further transparency measures give service providers and tech companies more freedom in reporting the number and type of government requests for data they must facilitate, and mandate that the government reveal the number of people swept up in searches — particularly if they’re American citizens.
Those in favor of stronger reforms criticize the bill’s failure to address surveillance authority granted to the government under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows NSA to collect the electronic communications of non-citizens outside the U.S., but often sweeps up and stores Americans’ communications in the process.
Obscurity threatens to be the final hurdle for the bill. Leahy introduced the legislation days before lawmakers left town for a congressional recess in August, leaving little opportunity for representatives to go through the bill amid regime-changing midterm elections and a long-awaited, equally contested vote on the Keystone XL pipeline late Tuesday.