McConnell to stand with Rand on NSA bill
A wall of Republican opposition brought down a controversial National Security Agency reform bill Tuesday night, leaving the future of the package in doubt ahead of a Republican takeover next year.
Sen. Patrick Leahys legislation that would end the NSAs bulk data collection narrowly fell short of the Senates 60-vote threshold, 58-42, a major defeat for privacy advocates, civil libertarians and a White House that supports the bill. The filibuster of the proposal prevents it from even coming to the floor for debate.
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Opposition was led by Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell and colleague Sen. Rand Paul, who both voted down the legislation, though for different reasons. McConnell, like many Republicans, voted it down because he believed the reforms went too far, while Paul voted against the bill because it did not go far enough.
Paul said immediately after the vote that he felt bad about his vote against the motion.
They probably needed my vote, he said, opposing Leahys bill because it would extend the sunset provisions for the laws authorizing surveillance. Its hard for me to vote for something I object to so much.
Other heavy hitters joined the view that NSA proposal would make it difficult to combat terrorism, a crowd that included Marco Rubio of Florida, another potential White House aspirant.
They cannot cite a single example of this program being abused, Rubio said of the bills supporters. Not one. We are dealing with a theoretical threat.
Advocates of the bill made impassioned pleas to advance it past a filibuster, the rare proposal that drew the support of both GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Democratic Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein of California.
It would help address the problem of the American government spying on its citizens without cause, said Lee, a co-sponsor of the bill, on the Senate floor before the vote. What opponents of this bill fail to appreciate is that most Americans are deeply, deeply, concerned about the collection of their personal information.
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McConnell to stand with Rand on NSA bill