The First Real GOP Debate Of 2016 Is About The Patriot Act
Expect the Senate floor to look more like a Republican presidential debate stage in the coming weeks, with candidates Rand Paul, Marco Rubio, and Ted Cruz facing off over the size and scope of the government’s domestic surveillance program.
by Kate Nocera
May. 7, 2015, at 1:58 p.m.
WASHINGTON — The first real debate of 2016 kicked off in earnest on Thursday after a federal court ruled that the Patriot Act does not allow the National Security Agency to mass collect the phone data of Americans.
The debate over privacy and the size and scope of the 14-year-old post 9/11 law that vastly expanded government surveillance practices pits pits Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul in a fight against Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and his more hawkish allies in the Senate.
Expect the Senate floor to look more like a presidential debate stage in the coming weeks: The fight over how to tackle the Patriot Act will be front and center in Congress as portions of the law, including section 215 which allows the government to bulk collect metadata of phone records, are set to expire June 1st.
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Following the court ruling, Rubio joined Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, and Senators Tom Cotton and Richard Burr to offer a full-throated defense of the NSA and accused critics of the programs of lying.
“Why are we even having this debate other than the fact that it is expiring?” Rubio said. “It is because a perception has been created, includuing by political figures that serve in this chamber, that the United States government is listening to your phone calls or going through your bills as a matter of course. That is absolutely categorically false.”
“The next time that any politician — senator, congressman, talking head, whatever it may be — stands up and says that the U.S. government is standing up and going through your phone records, they’re lying.”
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