Patriot Act Faces Revisions Backed by Both Parties

After more than a decade of wrenching national debate over the intrusiveness of government intelligence agencies, a bipartisan wave of support has gathered to sharply limit the federal government’s sweeps of phone and Internet records.

A bill that would overhaul the Patriot Act and curtail the so-called metadata surveillance exposed by Edward Snowden was overwhelmingly passed by the House Judiciary Committee and was heading to almost certain passage in that chamber in May. An identical bill in the Senate -- introduced with the support of five Republicans -- is gaining support over the objection of Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who is facing the prospect of his first policy defeat since ascending to majority leader.

Under the bipartisan bills in the House and Senate, the Patriot Act would be changed to prohibit bulk collection, and sweeps that had operated under the guise of so-called National Security Letters issued by the FBI would end. The data would instead be stored by the phone companies themselves, and could be accessed by intelligence agencies only after approval of the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act court. The legislation would also create a panel of experts to advise the FISA court on privacy, civil liberties, and technology matters, while requiring the declassification of all significant FISA court opinions.