Mitch McConnell’s determination to preserve government surveillance powers is bumping up against the impenetrable brick wall of presidential politics.
The Senate majority leader from Kentucky, and a majority of the Republican conference he leads, favors a clean extension of the National Security Agency’s counter-terrorism, bulk data collection program. McConnell’s been blocked at every turn by Sen. Rand Paul, a fellow Kentuckian and the Republican presidential candidate he has endorsed for his party’s 2016 nomination. Paul wouldn’t even let McConnell pass a one-day extension, objecting during a Senate floor debate just after midnight on Saturday.
Republican Senate aides concede that the libertarian-leaning Paul is sincere in his opposition to the NSA’s warehousing of Americans’ telephone records. But that he has turned his opposition into the centerpiece of his presidential campaign hasn’t gone unnoticed. “It is a little eyebrow-raising to see the fundraising pitches come out almost immediately after he’s done what he’s done,” one GOP aide said. “There’s clearly a political motivation as well.”
The Paul campaign has been unapologetic about the senator’s opposition to bulk data collection and how his political operation is using it to win votes, telling the Washington Examiner that his “principled” blockade of legislation to reauthorize the program is “just the beginning.”
The logjam over Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which expires at midnight on Monday, runs deeper than a disagreement between McConnell and Paul, who are otherwise allies — or even among Senate Republicans generally.
The Republican-controlled House of Representatives recently passed the USA Freedom Act with the support of GOP leaders in that chamber. The bill would make key changes to the NSA data collection program to satisfy opposition from inside the party, as well as among Democrats, that the current operation is unconstitutional. Meanwhile, Paul isn’t alone among GOP presidential candidates in his vocal push to end the program in its current form.
The field of major contenders is split on the operation, in which the NSA sweeps up Americans’ telephone records to access at a later date and only after being granted a search warrant, should a telephone number show up in the investigation of a potential terrorist plot. Supporters are former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham, former Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker.
Opposed are retired pediatric neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal and of course, Sen. Paul. Businesswoman Carly Fiorina appears to be undecided based on comments she made to reporters over the weekend in Oklahoma City. Notably, the opposition includes some otherwise staunch national security hawks who don’t agree with Paul on much else when it comes to the war on terror and foreign policy.
Cruz told reporters last week that he supports the House-passed USA Freedom Act precisely because he wants the government to retain the ability to hunt down terrorists and thwart plots. The presidential candidate said the legislation “respects the Constitutional rights of Americans. But at the same time the USA Freedom Act ensures that we retain the tools that law enforcement and national security needs to target terrorists and prevent them from carrying out terrorists acts.”
Under the bill, the telecommunications companies would store the call metadata, rather than the government, but make it available to federal authorities if presented with a search warrant. Supporters believe that solves the constitutional issue of illegal search and seizure while preserving the government’s ability to prevent terrorist attacks. Graham, expected to declare for president within days, strongly disagrees, saying it would make Americans less safe.
“I want to prevent another 9/11,” the senator said, referring to the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington. “In its current form, the freedom act is making a 9/11 more likely than the current program.”
Graham dismissed criticism by Paul, Cruz and others that bulk data collection by the NSA is unconstitutional.
National security is a top issue in the Republican presidential primary at this early stage, and GOP voters are siding with the hawkish contenders that are promising a return to aggressive U.S. leadership on the world stage if elected to succeed President Obama. That has proven a major political liability for Paul, whose hands-off approach on many foreign policy matters mirrors Obama’s. On the NSA’s bulk data collection, however, the voters more closely align with Paul.
The senator might have refused to bend or negotiate with McConnell (and Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C.) even if he wasn’t running for president and using the issue to stand out in a crowded primary in which he has otherwise been on the defensive on national security matters. He has been a consistent opponent of the full Patriot Act, not just the NSA program.
But the presidential contest, heating up just as the Section 215 is set to expire, is clearly a factor.
That Paul has company, with nearly half the field of major presidential contenders rallying to his side, has helped galvanize the GOP opposition to the NSA’s bulk data collection that does exist and force McConnell and other supporters into a difficult position. The majority leader has ordered the Senate to return to Washington early from its Memorial Day recess and convene for an unusual Sunday session, just hours before the program is due to expire.
The way forward remains unclear, although it is possible Burr might have a new proposal to present. McConnell’s office declined to comment for this story.
“We’re left with this option only,” McConnell said, before the Senate left town on Saturday. “The law expires at midnight Sunday next week and I doubt if there are many of us who are comfortable with that. Maybe a handful, but we need to act responsibly here on behalf of the American people.”
Susan Ferrechio contributed to this report.
Disclosure: The author’s wife works as an adviser to Scott Walker.
