Sen McConnell plays hardball on PATRIOT Act

Republican divisions on Capitol Hill over the PATRIOT Act deepened May 19 as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) privately made his case against a popular House bill that would end the National Security Agency’s bulk data collection program. Majority Leader McConnell said he plans to put the House-passed USA Freedom Act on the Senate floor later in the week of May 18 -- a move that could show it can’t pass the Senate. But in a closed-door party lunch on May 19, Majority Leader McConnell made clear his preference for a two-month extension of the current law. And to bolster his case against the House measure, the GOP leadership invited Michael Mukasey to meet with Senate Republicans, and the former attorney general argued in favor of keeping the PATRIOT Act provisions intact.

Still, top House Republicans insist their bill is the only option for the Senate, with the House set to leave town on May 21, and Speaker of the House John Boehner (R-OH) giving no indication that he is willing to bail out Senate Republicans with a short-term lifeline for the expiring PATRIOT Act provisions. Concerned Senate Republicans are now pumping the brakes while the debate over the PATRIOT Act further exposes a rift within the GOP between its hawkish and libertarian wings.