A bipartisan group of legislators from both the House and Senate on Thursday urged the Senate to take up and pass the USA FREEDOM Act (H.R. 2048) to reform the controversial NSA bulk collection program.
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.); House Judiciary Committee Ranking Member John Conyers (D-Mich.); House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, Homeland Security, and Investigations Chairman Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), House Judiciary Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property, and the Internet Ranking Member Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.), Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah), and Senate Judiciary Committee Ranking Member Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) jointly issued the statement.
“The House took an important step this week by overwhelmingly approving the USA FREEDOM Act by a vote of 338-88. The Senate should do the same,” the authors said.
A Senate version of the bill, S.1123, was introduced by sponsor Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) and referred to the Senate Judiciary Committee. However, no action has been taken on it yet.
The USA Freedom Act ends the bulk collection of telephone metadata and forces government agencies to obtain that kind of information through more limited Foreign Intelligence Surveillance (FISA) court orders
H.R. 2048 also makes reforms to the FISA courts and national security letters. The bill adds transparency provisions to the FISA courts and directs them to appoint an expert panel to assist in the consideration of applications.
The Director of National Intelligence (DNI) is directed to make all FISA court decisions public following a declassification review. The DNI is also so produce a public report on the number of FISA court orders for surveillance actions issues the previous year.
The act also revises standards under which the government can prohibit recipients of national security letters from disclosing to anyone that the government sought or obtained access to requested information.
H.R. 2048 was written by Sensenbrenner, the original author of the Patriot Act, with Goodlatte, Conyers, and Nadler. Sensenbrenner has said he never intended for the law to enable the collection of phone records of all Americans.
“Since first learning of the program this spring, I have been a vocal critic of such dragnet collection as a gross invasion of privacy and a violation of Section 215,” he said in a 2013 op-ed in the Los Angeles Times.
The authors of the joint statement would not agree to any “clean” reauthorization of the controversial NSA bulk telephone data collection program, Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act.
“The USA FREEDOM Act is a carefully crafted compromise that has the support of the intelligence community, technology industry, and privacy groups. For this reason, we will not agree to any extension of the NSA’s bulk collection program, which has already been ruled unlawful by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals,” the statement said.
Last week the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled the law does not allow the NSA to collect bulk telephone metadata. However, it did not immediately halt the program because Section 215 is set to expire at the end of May without reauthorization.
House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) agreed with the joint statement in his weekly press conference on Thursday.
“The House has acted to make sure that the administration has the tools to help keep Americans safe. It’s time for the Senate to act.”
The joint statement authors urged the Senate to pass the reform bill.
“The Senate should not delay reform again this year. Instead, the Senate should immediately pass the USA FREEDOM Act,” the statement said.
However, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) countered the reforms by fast-tracking a “clean” renewal of the provisions for five years using a procedural rule to bypass the committee process and bring it straight to the Senate floor.
McConnell’s bill, S.1035, was introduced on April 21 with co-sponsor Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.).
“Section 215 helped us find the needle in a haystack, but under the USA Freedom Act, there may not be a haystack to look through at all,” McConnell said on the Senate floor
Burr is strongly against the USA Freedom Act reforms.
“Simply put, H.R. 2048 is trying to fix a system that isn’t broken. In its place, the House bill envisions an unknown technical solution based on uncertain access to data that may or may not exist,” Burr said in a statement on Thursday.
Presidential candidate Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) also strongly supports a clear renewal of the bulk collection.
“There is not a single documented case of abuse of this program…Congress has until the end of May to act before the current authorities expire. We must renew these authorities and provide those we charge with protecting us every tool they need to do so.”
However, both senators Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have vowed to filibuster any extension of the collection of bulk data, including McConnell’s bill.
“Senator Wyden and myself have a simpler approach to the problem. We simply ban the collection of phone records and do not replace it with an alternative collection system. We presume the replacement system would be constitutionally sound Fourth Amendment warrants,” Paul said in a statement.
“I have made it clear I will fight any effort to extend mass surveillance of Americans’ records through a straight renewal of the Patriot Act – even a short-term one…It is time for mass surveillance to end, and I will filibuster any attempt to extend this illegal surveillance, which violates core American rights without making our country any safer,” Wyden said on Wednesday.
Another presidential candidate, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is a co-sponsor of the Senate copy of the USA Freedom Act.
“Congress should immediately pass the USA FREEDOM Act, of which I am a proud cosponsor, to strike the right balance between privacy rights and national security interests,” Cruz said on May 7 following the Second Circuit’s decision.
On Thursday, McConnell proposed a two month clean extension of the expiring provisions, S.1357, to allow for more negotiating time. However, Wyden reacted negatively in a tweet that “Two months is two months too long.”
Rep. Adam Shiff (D-Calif.) also noted on Wednesday “The overwhelming support for the House measure should show Senate leaders that a straight re-authorization of Section 215 is a nonstarter in the House.”
Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) had strong words for McConnell.
“Last week a federal appeals court ruled that federal government’s bulk collection program is illegal. The Majority Leader seems prepared to lead the Senate into reauthorizing an illegal program. How can you reauthorize something that is illegal?” Reid said on the Senate floor on Thursday.
“Republicans and Democrats have vowed to filibuster a clean extension if the Republican Leader brings one to the floor. Even if he plows ahead in the face of bipartisan opposition it will take a week to secure a final vote, if that is even possible,” Reid said.
If both houses cannot agree to one of the bills by May 31, the Section 215 provisions will expire. Congress has even less time because of the Memorial Day week-long recess of May 25-29.
The White House released a Statement of Administration Policy on Tuesday that strongly supports H.R. 2048 and reiterated that support on Friday.
“If some Senate Republicans allow important intelligence authorities to expire by rejecting reasonable reforms, that have overwhelming already passed the House and have strong bipartisan support in the Senate, they will be weakening our nation’s security and standing in the way of reforms that would enhance the American people’s trust and confidence in the agencies tasked with protecting them,” Eric Schultz, principle Deputy White House Press Secretary, said in the White House daily press briefing.