PATRIOT Act on life support after Rand Paul stymies renewal efforts

[jct74]

PATRIOT Act on life support after Rand Paul stymies renewal efforts
Liberals, libertarians block short-term reauthorizations, leaving a tiny window of opportunity next week for a deal.

By Seung Min Kim and Burgess Everett
5/22/15 10:50 AM EDT

The Senate plunged into chaos Saturday as Republicans found themselves tangled over the PATRIOT Act, Rand Paul repeatedly stymied his leaders, and senators left town with critical national security programs about to lapse.

In a rare early morning Saturday vote, the Senate blocked a popular House bill that would rein in controversial government surveillance programs. The vote was 57-42, and it needed 60 votes to advance. Immediately after that vote, the Senate also rejected a straight 60-day extension of the Bush-era national security law on a 45-54 vote — leaving the Senate with no immediate options to ensure the programs don’t expire before the end of the month.

Paul, the libertarian firebrand and GOP presidential hopeful, pushed the Senate into the wee hours of Saturday to protest the bulk collection of phone records, as weary and recess-hungry senators trudged through a packed to-do list — finishing trade legislation but getting stuck on the PATRIOT Act issues.

“It’s not about making a point, it’s about trying to prevent the bulk collection of data,” Paul told reporters after the Senate floor drama. When asked whether his objections were a fundraising tactic, Paul responded: “I think people don’t question my sincerity.”

After the two failed votes early Saturday, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tried to swiftly pass shorter and shorter temporary reauthorizations of the PATRIOT Act — extending it to June 8, June 5, June 3 and then June 2 — but he was blocked by Paul, as well as two Democratic senators.

After being stiff-armed at every turn, McConnell announced that the Senate would be back in session on May 31 to resolve the PATRIOT Act standoff — just hours before the critical provisions are poised to sunset.

...

read more:
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/mitch-mcconnell-criticize-house-surveillance-bill-118211.html

 

[Mr.NoSmile]

just hours before the critical provisions are poised to sunset.

That's cute. Just like DHS. I'm willing to be a last minute compromise will be reached.

 

[jct74]

How the Senate Fell Apart and Failed to Deal With the Patriot Act
The Senate leaves for vacation with unfinished business on NSA surveillance.

BY DUSTIN VOLZ, BRENDAN SASSO, SARAH MIMMS AND RACHEL ROUBEIN
May 22, 2015

The Senate is going on vacation, but it didn't finish its homework.

With no solution in sight to the Patriot Act quagmire that kept lawmakers voting until past 1 a.m. Saturday, senators have left town for a week. They will return next Sunday—just hours before the deadline to act on the future of the federal government's sweeping domestic-spying powers.

In a tense vote after midnight, the Senate failed to move forward on the House-passed USA Freedom Act, legislation that would end the National Security Agency's bulk collection of call data. The vote was 57-to-42, just short of the 60-vote threshold needed after stiff opposition and last-minute whipping Friday night into Saturday from Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and other GOP defense hawks. Senators then easily rejected a motion to move ahead on a McConnell-backed two-month extension of the Patriot Act's spying authorities.

If the two high-stakes votes at 1 a.m. weren't enough, the dramatic scene that followed showed how tense things are in the Senate.

McConnell proposed an even shorter-term extension of the surveillance authorities—from their current June 1 expiration date through June 8, giving the Senate time to take its Memorial Day recess before returning to take up the issue once again. Sen. Rand Paul objected on grounds he wanted up-or-down votes on his amendments to the Freedom Act, and what followed was an unusual exchange between McConnell and pro-reform senators that resulted, where much of the night did, in no solution.

McConnell suggested putting off the debate until June 5, earning objection from Sen. Ron Wyden of Oregon. Then McConnell tried for June 3, to the objection of Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico. Finally the majority leader asked for an extension through June 2. Paul objected again, and the Senate took another short break.

A flushed McConnell attempted to figure out his next move, while Paul—the junior senator from Kentucky who's using his NSA stand to promote a presidential run—strolled around the perimeter of the chamber, hands tucked into his suit pockets.

...

read more:
http://www.nationaljournal.com/tech/NSA-Patriot-Act-Rand-Paul-20150522

 

[jct74]

Amash and Massie were in attendance

The House won't reconvene from its current Memorial Day recess until the evening of June 1—after the provisions will expire. Rep. Justin Amash, a Michigan Republican and one of Congress's most strident critics of the Patriot Act, vowed late Friday to block any unanimous-consent deal that would allow the House to agree to any clean short-term extension that the Senate might pass.

Amash was sitting on the side of the Senate chamber Friday evening along with Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican. During the Patriot Act votes, Paul could be seen chatting and laughing with the pair of civil libertarians.

 

[jct74]

McConnell's floor strategy backfires
Upstarts like Rand Paul leave the Senate chamber in a bind over surveillance law.

By Burgess Everett
5/22/15 4:59 PM EDT

Mitch McConnell tried to use a time-tested tactic to break his fellow senators’ will and get what he wants: the threat of missing their vacation after a grueling, six-week work period.

It didn’t work.

The majority leader prioritized a fast-track trade bill over renewing three key PATRIOT Act provisions that expire on May 31. McConnell got the trade bill through on Friday evening, but his attempts to exhaust his colleagues and jam through a clean extension of surveillance laws blew apart just after 1 a.m. Saturday.

A trio of libertarian-leaning senators objected to McConnell’s attempts to offer even a two-day extension of the programs, leaving the Republican leader little option but to send lawmakers home and regroup for a last-ditch attempt next week to salvage the PATRIOT Act.

Like a stern school principal, the majority leader tried to keep his pupils in session until they finish their work, using the impending Memorial Day recess as motivation to keep the PATRIOT Act’s bulk data collection alive. But he miscalculated how hard Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) would fight any attempt at a clean extension.

Now the Senate will come back in session on May 31 at 4 p.m., just eight hours before the bulk data collection programs — as well as provisions allowing roving wiretaps and surveillance against suspected terrorists not affiliated with a known terrorist group — expire.

...

read more:
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/05/senate-barrels-toward-frantic-final-hours-118225.html

 

[specsaregood]

Upstarts like Rand Paul leave the Senate chamber in a bind over surveillance law.

Upstarts? The dictionary says that term is derogatory.

So it begins eh? Even with the titles of stupid internet pieces.

 

[Ronin Truth]

And we all managed to get along HOW, before and without it?

 

[XNavyNuke]

Warrantless searches on life support. Pull the plug!

XNN

 

[CaptUSA]

Do you realize that if Rand Paul is successful in ending the Patriot Act - even if symbolically - then he WILL be President.

Call your Senators. Now.

 

[acptulsa]

Upstarts? The dictionary says that term is derogatory.

So it begins eh? Even with the titles of stupid internet pieces.

Meanwhile, they try to trigger unconscious sympathy for a piece of legislation by describing it as 'on life support'.

How is it on life support? It has the full force of law for the moment. Nothing happened to it. There was no temporary band-aid funding passed to sustain it for a week. Nothing has changed at all. So where the hell did this 'on life support' analogy come from?

 

[DevilsAdvocate]

So can we kill this thing? Or will they muster up a last minute deal??? They have a whole week for political backstabbing, how likely is it that our side will hold up?

 

[Brett85]

People should realize that if these provisions expire, it wouldn't mean that the entire Patriot Act would be gone. There are only three provisions that are going to expire if Congress doesn't reathorize them. There are something like 8 or 9 other provisions that have already been made permanent. People keep referring to this bill as "the Patriot Act" when in reality it's simply one part of it.

 

[mrsat_98]

 

[Krugminator2]

So can we kill this thing? Or will they muster up a last minute deal??? They have a whole week for political backstabbing, how likely is it that our side will hold up?

Rand holds all the cards right now. I have read all the articles and haven't seen one procedural trick they could use to get something done.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...frantic-final-hours-118225.html#ixzz3ax8jBP6B

Rand did say this though, “I offered a very reasonable compromise,” Paul Said. “Sometimes things change as deadlines approach.” It doesn't appear as though anyone thinks his compromise is going anywhere.


Interesting line here as well. "But he didn’t properly gauge Paul, who many privately predicted would fold."

 

[thoughtomator]

Rand holds all the cards right now. I have read all the articles and haven't seen one procedural trick they could use to get something done.

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/...frantic-final-hours-118225.html#ixzz3ax8jBP6B

Rand did say this though, “I offered a very reasonable compromise,” Paul Said. “Sometimes things change as deadlines approach.” It doesn't appear as though anyone thinks his compromise is going anywhere.


Interesting line here as well. "But he didn’t properly gauge Paul, who many privately predicted would fold."

It's a deal you can't refuse.

Or the PATRIOT Act gets it. *shkkk*

 

[specialkornflake]

THANK YOU FOR YOUR DONATION
Thank you for your $175.00 contribution to my campaign. Your transaction ID is xxxxxxx.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

In a rare early morning Saturday vote, the Senate blocked a popular House bill that would rein in controversial government surveillance programs. The vote was 57-42, and it needed 60 votes to advance.

So hard to keep all of these votes straight. So that was the USA Freedom Act, which reauthorizes everything with a few "reforms"?

How they voted is right here:

http://politics.nytimes.com/congress/votes/114/senate/1/194

 

[jct74]

here's Weigel's report

Randstand: Republican Presidential Candidate Leads Bipartisan Opposition to Patriot Act
Some 2016 rivals say he's jeopardizing national security.

by David Weigel
May 23, 2015 3:18 PM EDT

Over the course of two-and-a-half minutes in the wee hours of Saturday morning, Rand Paul set off a few parliamentary explosions in the Senate, likely detonated another trademark "money bomb" for his presidential campaign, and seized a leadership role in what seems likely to be a prolonged, bipartisan debate over the way the U.S. handles terrorist threats.

Hours after Paul used a range of parliamentary maneuvers to blocked the Senate from extending the Patriot Act, the contentious anti-terror law that expires June 1, and forced his Kentucky colleague, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, to call senators back for a rare Sunday session on May 31, some of his colleagues suggested his motives were purely self-serving.

"I'm sure it's a great revenue raiser," Arizona Senator John McCain told reporters, referring to Paul's use of lengthy Senate floor speeches to win contributions for his campaign.

For Paul, though, the standoff was also a political coup that exposed the deep rift in both parties — but especially the Republican Party — over foreign policy and the so-called war on terror. It also showed the iconoclastic Kentuckian's ability to win allies across political lines. Eight Republicans joined 45 Democrats and independent Angus King of Maine in voting against advancing the Patriot Act extension (McConnell made a ninth Republican "no" vote when he switched his vote at the end, but that was on a procedural move that will allow him to call the legislation up for a re-vote).

...

read more:
http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/a...patriot-act-with-help-from-democratic-friends

 

[SpiritOf1776_J4]

One thing we can do, with a whole week, is to change the frame of the debate to some senators are trying to reauthorize an act that federal court has ruled was illegal.

 

[Brian4Liberty]