Bill to limit surveillance powers clears Senate hurdle

The Senate advanced a sweeping remake of US surveillance powers, two days after an internal split among Republicans caused the legal authority for key counterterrorism programs to temporarily expire. By a vote of 83 to 14, the measure cleared a crucial procedural hurdle, as Senators acted to close debate on the USA Freedom Act, a House-passed bill that would end the National Security Agency’s practice of collecting troves of call data from telephone companies. It would instead mandate a six-month transition to a system in which the data would remain in private hands but could be searched on a case-by-case basis under a court order. June 2nd’s cloture vote sets up the consideration of several amendments, with final passage expected later in the day.

Depending on the amendment votes and procedural maneuvers, the bill could be signed into law as soon as the night of June 2nd. Regarding Sen Rand Paul (R-KY)'s objections to efforts to quickly pass either the House bill or short-term extensions of current law, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) said, “This is the Senate, and members are entitled to different views, and members have tools to assert those views. It’s the nature of the body where we work. But what’s happened has happened, and we are where we are. Now is the time to put all that in the past and work together to diligently make some discrete and sensible improvements to the House bill.” But those “improvements” could further delay passage of the legislation. Any successful amendment would send the bill back to the House, where its fate would be uncertain.