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Senate rejects action on Patriot Act; NSA spying powers likely to lapse

In this image from Senate video, Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky speaks on the floor of the U.S. Senate on Wednesday during a long speech opposing renewal of the Patriot Act. (Associated Press)
Sean Cockerham Tribune News Service

WASHINGTON – The National Security Agency’s power to collect domestic phone records is likely to expire with the Senate paralyzed over what to do about the Patriot Act.

The Senate left Washington for a weeklong vacation after an early morning session Saturday.

With the provision used to justify the mass collection of phone records expiring at the end of the month, and the House also on vacation, there appears little chance to prevent at least a temporary lapse in the NSA’s spying authority. That would be a victory for Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky, who fought to block renewal of the Patriot Act.

The Senate voted Saturday against a House-passed bill that would have changed the bulk phone record program while renewing less controversial provisions of the Patriot Act.

That bill, under which the records would be kept by the phone companies instead of the government, needed 60 votes to pass and fell short, with 57 senators in favor and 42 opposed.

The Senate next rejected a bill by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., that would have extended the NSA’s spying powers for two months. That vote was 45 to 54, a margin that indicated even less of an appetite among the senators for an extension of the phone records collection program.

A frustrated McConnell then told senators to go home for their scheduled Memorial Day break. But he ordered them back a day early, May 31, just hours before the surveillance powers expires at midnight. It’s not clear what could happen before then to break the logjam, though, and the House isn’t scheduled to return from its break until June 1.

Paul is running for the Republican nomination for president and his opposition to the NSA’s domestic surveillance is a centerpiece of his campaign.

Paul made a nearly 11-hour speech against the Patriot Act renewal earlier in the week.

His position puts him at sharp odds with his fellow Kentuckian McConnell, who calls the NSA data collection important for national security.

The White House has been pushing the Senate hard to pass the House-approved bill.

Section 215, used to justify the phone data collection, isn’t the only provision that would expire June 1. So would the “lone wolf” provision, meant for spying on targets not directly connected to terrorist cells, and a provision that lets the government use roving wiretaps to track suspects who switch phones or locations.