The Senate Sunday took a step toward renewing a controversial anti-terrorism surveillance law, but the road to passage could be complicated.
The surveillance law lapsed at midnight, hours after the Senate voted to advance the USA Freedom Act, a bill that would extend the spy law, but with significant reforms aimed at protecting privacy.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., announced he plans to allow amendments to the USA Freedom Act, which could make final passage more difficult.
Senate passage alone could be at least days away, thanks in part to opposition from Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., who is running for president and is a fierce opponent of the surveillance program. Paul has objected to speeding up consideration of legislation to extend the law in any form, forcing the Senate to run out the parliamentary clock.
The USA Freedom Act would end the National Security Agency practice of collecting domestic electronic and telephone data in bulk. The legislation would also require more court oversight of NSA data searches.
Paul has opposed the USA Freedom Act, arguing it does not go far enough to protect privacy.
McConnell also opposes the bill, but for the opposite reason.
McConnell believes the USA Freedom Act would render the surveillance law ineffective at thwarting terrorist attacks on domestic soil.
The amendments, McConnell plans to introduce, “will attempt to ensure the program can work as promised,” he said.
But the USA Freedom Act already passed overwhelmingly in the House with bipartisan support.
Any changes made to the bill on the Senate floor will require House approval, and there is no guarantee of that.
House Speaker John Boehner on Sunday called on the Senate to pass the House bill. The Ohio Republican recently told reporters that if the Senate amends the bill, “we’ll certainly look at what they do and make a decision about how to proceed.”
But getting the House to agree to an altered version could be difficult and would further delay getting a bill to President Obama’s desk.
While McConnell has not disclosed the amendments, they’ll likely be proposed by Sen. Richard Burr, the chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee.
Burr opposes the USA Freedom Act and has offered substitute legislation that would allow a two-year transition period for ending the government’s bulk domestic data collection.
It’s a proposal that may not win enough support in the Senate, never mind the House, where the USA Freedom Act passed by 338 votes and lawmakers are opposed to any attempt to weaken the reforms in the bill.
Paul said he will also offer amendments.
He acknowledged Sunday night in a Senate floor speech that the USA Freedom Act is likely to eventually pass the Senate. But on Twitter, Paul pledged that he’ll try to make changes to it so that the government can’t conduct dragnet searches of stored telephone company data.
“We will try to get amendments to fix the Freedom Act to ensure warrants are individualized,” Paul tweeted.
Surveillance law proponents, meanwhile, warned that its expiration could be deadly.
Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., said he believes the NSA’s collection of data has already helped prevent terrorist attacks in the United States.
“It is healthy for Congress to be debating and fine-tuning the mechanisms in which intelligence is conducted,” Inhofe said. “But we live in an increasingly dangerous world, and allowing key provisions to expire altogether is a grave mistake that could be paid for by the blood of Americans.”
But Paul late Sunday touted the lapse in the spy law. His opposition to extending it has become a central part of his presidential campaign and he has even used it to bring in campaign donations.
Shortly after McConnell adjourned the Senate before 10 p.m. Paul sent out an email taking credit.
“Tonight we stopped the illegal NSA Bulk data collection,” Paul said in a statement. “This is a victory no matter how you look at it. It might be short lived, but I hope that it provides a road for a robust debate, which will strengthen our intelligence community, while also respecting our Constitution.”
