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The Senate tried to ram through a "clean" two-month extension of the NSA surveillance bill last night and failed 45-54. They could not even muster a majority.
Prior to that however, the Senate voted down the House passed the USA Freedom Act - passed in the House by a hugely bipartisan 338-88 margin - which would end the bulk collection of phone records by the NSA and provide for a six month transition period for the NSA to a process which does not involve this outrageously unconstitutional misuse of government authority. The USA Freedom Act is also supported by President Obama (which is the one thing that makes me queasy here, as his judgment is routinely wrong with remarkable consistency).
The Senate early Saturday defeated a string of efforts to extend the Patriot Act as lawmakers splintered over its contentious phone surveillance program and left town with no plan in place to prevent the law from lapsing. After next week’s Memorial Day recess, the Senate will resume its debate over the national security law at 4 p.m. on May 31, eight hours before the law expires at midnight.
Beginning shortly after midnight, the Senate narrowly blocked a House bill ending the NSA’s collection of bulk phone information, requiring the government instead to obtain court approval to request phone records from companies on a case-by-case basis. The vote to move forward with the House bill was 57-42, short of the 60 votes needed to clear the Senate’s procedural threshold.
The bill had easily cleared the House with bipartisan support last week and was backed by the White House.
The media and the supporters of the Patriot Act are making this out to be yet another hand-wringing end of the world as we know it emergency where doom and destruction are possibly imminent. In fact, the answer here is simple, as the Senate needs just three more votes to be able to pass the USA Freedom Act (passed in the House on a bipartisan basis by a margin of 338-88). I could be wrong, but I expect that this is what they will come around to.
And while Rand Paul will probably not even vote for the USA Freedom Act (he voted no last night), he is clearly the big winner here. Him and the American people have both won now that the tide has apparently turned on this subject.
The Senate tried to ram through a "clean" two-month extension of the NSA surveillance bill last night and failed 45-54. They could not even muster a majority.
Prior to that however, the Senate voted down the House passed the USA Freedom Act - passed in the House by a hugely bipartisan 338-88 margin - which would end the bulk collection of phone records by the NSA and provide for a six month transition period for the NSA to a process which does not involve this outrageously unconstitutional misuse of government authority. The USA Freedom Act is also supported by President Obama (which is the one thing that makes me queasy here, as his judgment is routinely wrong with remarkable consistency).
The media and the supporters of the Patriot Act are making this out to be yet another hand-wringing end of the world as we know it emergency where doom and destruction are possibly imminent. In fact, the answer here is simple, as the Senate needs just three more votes to be able to pass the USA Freedom Act (passed in the House on a bipartisan basis by a margin of 338-88). I could be wrong, but I expect that this is what they will come around to.
And while Rand Paul will probably not even vote for the USA Freedom Act (he voted no last night), he is clearly the big winner here. Him and the American people have both won now that the tide has apparently turned on this subject.
That vote was a "Motion to Invoke Cloture" which ends the discussion.
I'd recommend not visiting that wingnut site if you have working brain cells.
It is a Wall Street Journal article. And if you want to visit a wingnut site, go to the Huffington Post or the Daily Kos.
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