Concord, N.H. — As the issue comes to a head in Congress, the disagreements within the Republican Party over the Patriot Act are playing out in surprising ways.
Consider the GOP leadership from just one state, Wisconsin.
Governor and likely presidential candidate Scott Walker made clear on a political swing to New Hampshire that he does not support a House bill that bans the National Security Agency's mass surveillance program, suggesting the measure goes too far in limiting the government's ability to monitor phone records.
But that position puts him at odds with his state's senior GOP member of Congress, Jim Sensenbrenner, who wrote the bill, known as the USA Freedom Act.
"I was absolutely surprised" to hear of the governor's position, Sensenbrenner said in an interview Saturday, "because all of the Wisconsin Republicans in Congress have voted for it and publicly expressed support for it."
Wisconsin's five GOP House members and its one GOP senator, Ron Johnson, have all voted for the Sensenbrenner bill.
Touted by its supporters as a compromise between competing security and privacy concerns, it ends the bulk collection of Americans' call records but renews provisions of the Patriot Act that are otherwise scheduled to lapse.
The measure passed the House on May 13 on a lopsided bipartisan vote. It is backed by the Obama administration and got 57 votes in the Senate, three short of the number needed to overcome a filibuster.
The Senate is now scrambling to resolve an impasse over the issue, because three provisions of the Patriot Act expire Monday, including the one used to authorize the NSA surveillance program. There is not majority support in Congress for renewing the Patriot Act without revision.
Walker had not spelled out his position on the Sensenbrenner bill before Friday. But on a Republican sunset cruise on a New Hampshire lake, the governor was asked about the legislation by a Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reporter. He indicated he didn't support the bill. Walker said he favored striking a balance between privacy and security, but suggested the bill went too far in limiting the government's surveillance powers.
"I think there needs to be the capacity, if we have in America enemy combatants, or people in line with enemy combatants, we need to be able to gain access to information that would help assist us," said Walker.
Talking to reporters again here Saturday, Walker downplayed his differences with Sensenbrenner.
"I would prefer to have something closer to the Patriot Act intact," said Walker, but said, "I certainly respect my own congressman. Congressman Sensenbrenner, I think, is trying to create some sort of balance to make sure the Patriot Act doesn't run out."
Sensenbrenner said that, "where I think the governor was misinformed on the USA Freedom Act, is that it does give the NSA access to the materials they need, but the privacy of Americans is protected because the government is not storing the data."
Under Sensenbrenner's bill, the government would not collect the data in bulk but could access data from the phone companies with a court order.
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