For Senator Marco Rubio (R- Fla.), reauthorizing government spying isn’t quite enough–he wants to permanently enshrine it in law.
In an op-ed for Fox News Tuesday, Rubio wrote, “We…cannot afford to ignore another lesson of 9/11 and curtail intelligence gathering capabilities that have been legally and painstakingly established following those horrific attacks.”
He went on to call for permanently extending parts of the Patriot Act which are soon set to expire, and pressuring companies to allow the government easy access to customer data:
This year, a new Republican majority in both houses of Congress will have to extend current authorities under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, and I urge my colleagues to consider a permanent extension of the counterterrorism tools our intelligence community relies on to keep the American people safe.
Rubio has long promoted his image as the potential hawk candidate in the 2016 primary, providing a stark contrast to Senators Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who backed NSA reform last year.
The backlash from NSA reform advocates was swift. Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) tweeted this:
Disqualified. RT @nationaljournal: Marco Rubio wants to permanently extend NSA mass surveillance http://t.co/vDfHuK5Jpb
— Justin Amash (@repjustinamash) January 27, 2015
While Rep. Jared Polis (D-Colo.) released a statement calling for 24-hour-surveillance of Rubio:
Now we’re all just waiting for everyone’s perpetual Twitter-sparring-partner Rand Paul to weigh in!
