But that program and several other post-Sept. 11 counter-terror measures look likely to be revived in a matter of days. With no other options, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, in an about-face, reluctantly embraced a House-passed bill that would extend the anti-terror provisions that expire Sunday at midnight, while also remaking the bulk phone collections program.
Although the lapse in the programs may be brief, intelligence officials warned that it could jeopardize Americans’ safety and amount to a win for terrorists. But civil liberties groups applauded as Paul, who is running for president, forced the expiration of the once-secret program made public by NSA contractor Edward Snowden, which critics say is an unconstitutional intrusion into Americans’ privacy.
The Senate voted 77-17 to move ahead on the House-passed bill, the USA Freedom Act, which only last weekend fell three shorts vote of the 60 needed to advance in the Senate. For McConnell, it was a remarkable retreat after objecting ferociously that the House bill would make the bulk phone collections program unwieldy by requiring the government to search records maintained by phone companies.
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Better hold the ground paul.. whole dam act needs to go. This its for the children BS makes me puke
ReplyDeleteThis is the same as a cop stopping everyone looking for a criminal. Hoping to find one. Its wrong. The DUI checkpoints to your you look suspicious in a certain area and done nothing wrong just look weird. And if your ready to argue Terry vs. Ohio. Let's go officers! Point is that the government has to much grasp on american citizens. Want no terrorists? Bring our troops home. Mind our business. And close and secure our borders.
ReplyDeleteButthole
This is the same as a cop stopping everyone looking for a criminal. Hoping to find one. Its wrong. The DUI checkpoints to your you look suspicious in a certain area and done nothing wrong just look weird. And if your ready to argue Terry vs. Ohio. Let's go officers! Point is that the government has to much grasp on american citizens. Want no terrorists? Bring our troops home. Mind our business. And close and secure our borders.
ReplyDeleteButthole
only one senator standing up for liberty. Damn shame!
ReplyDeleteWe have Trey Gowdy, too, so that's two.
ReplyDeleteif you think the feds will ever stop sniffing everyones ass, because congress said so....man....you are living on fantasy island.....nsa won't stop listening....they will double their efforts if they meet resistance
ReplyDeleteNow we need some phone companies like ISP's - that don't maintain any records...so the government can't take them!
ReplyDeleteWe've already got encrypted phones - thanks to some customer conscious company!
If the government wants to sniff - sniff the borders...physical and electronic...keep your noses away from citizens!
Rand is actually wrong here.I'm a big fan of his and will vote for him,but he's wrong with this one.
ReplyDeletelistening to the esteemed Senator from Hanoi... you'd think Rand Paul is an enemy of the State... John McCain needs to answer for the powers he granted Barack Obama when he and Harry Reid reworded the NDAA on Christmas Eve giving Obama massive overreaching power that is way more a threat to the Country than anything in the NDAA. Obama with unchecked power in a crisis paired with the information on US Citizens is the outline for the demise of this Country ..and that is McCain's Unconstitutional hubris's fault.
ReplyDelete906-Actually, you are.
ReplyDelete906 no he's not. You are
ReplyDelete9:06 IS totally wrong. He's a brain dead cheerleader that has no idea WHY we are a country, how we got here, and what we (used) to stand for....
ReplyDeleteHere's why --- The NSA is, by law, prohibited from operating in the USA. BY LAW. Their mission is FOREIGN intelligence collection and analysis.
They are RECORDING all communications, by ALL electronic means, done by ALL Americans. They are in violation of the very law designed to stop them from what they are doing RIGHT NOW.
They are also completely exempt from any prosecution, thanks to a couple of lines inserted into a FARM BILL in the 1960's.
And if they are "looking" for terrorists, that's a "fishing expedition" that has been outlawed by the Supreme Court.
If they are searching for terrorists, well, that's a search. The 4TH amendment says that if the government wants to search me, a warrant is necessary. The NSA doesn't have to obey the Constitution?
You sheep, like the goofball at 9:06, and his equally shortsighted lemming friend at 9:53, are so ready to give up the freedoms so many DIED for, they would readily allow a cop to stand at their front door and submit to a thorough search every time they left the house, because some politician told him we NEED to do it to stop "terrorists" and GOOD AMERICAN CI-DI-ZENS would "comply".
Surrender your freedom whenever they tell you to.....that's their expectation.
Keep cheering.