Obama Signs Renewal of Government Spying Powers
The government may continue using roving wiretaps and other Patriot Act powers that were to expire at 12:01 a.m. Friday. Late Thursday, President Barack Obama signed into law an extension until June 1, 2015, of the government spying powers. The law made no changes to surveillance, but Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., introduced legislation Thursday based on his failed amendment to add privacy protections. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and privacy groups said they were disappointed the renewal had no new protections for U.S. citizens.
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The renewed Patriot Act sections relate to roving wiretaps allowing the government to continue tracking a suspect who switches phones under the same warrant, Section 215 orders to obtain “any tangible thing,” and “lone wolf” attacks. Sen. Rand Paul, a tea party Republican from Kentucky, slowed movement through Congress with a plethora of amendments, but early Thursday evening the Senate passed the bill 72-23. A few hours later, the House concurred by a vote of 250-153. Obama signed the bill Thursday night, the White House said a few minutes before midnight.
"Although the PATRIOT Act is not a perfect law, it provides our intelligence and law enforcement communities with crucial tools to keep America safe and thwart terrorism,” Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said in a written statement. “While I am disappointed we were not able to include any of the sensible oversight and civil liberties protections included in the bill reported by the Judiciary Committee with bipartisan support, I strongly support the Senate’s effort to ensure that these important authorities do not expire.” Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said “the invaluable terror-fighting tools under the Patriot Act have kept us safe for nearly a decade, and Americans today should be relieved and reassured to know that these programs will continue."
But Pelosi complained about the bill’s lack of privacy protections. “Congress failed to seize the opportunity to enact measures and improvements needed to preserve Americans’ privacy and to incorporate oversight and compliance with the law,” Pelosi said in a statement. “In addition, Congress failed to consider meaningful reforms to National Security Letters to address documented abuses. Instead, we were left to vote only on a long extension of some of the most controversial and troubling aspects of the PATRIOT Act."
Leahy, whose amendment was rebuked in the Senate by McConnell, promptly reissued his proposed reforms in a new free-standing bill, S-1225. The bill makes changes to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to bolster people’s privacy.
While disappointed that the renewal contained no new protections, the Electronic Frontier Foundation was happy to see more members voting no on the Patriot Act extension, said EFF Senior Staff Attorney Kevin Bankston in an interview. Patriot Act opponents picked up 12 additional no votes in the Senate and 10 in the House, compared to the last time renewal was raised, Bankston said. That includes not only Democrats, but several tea party Republicans, he said. Congress shouldn’t let a Patriot Act revamp stagnate for another four years, he said. EFF supports Leahy’s new bill, though it would prefer even stronger changes to surveillance law, Bankston said: “The renewal fight may be over, but the fight for reform will continue."
"Despite having months to debate and legislate on this crucial issue, Congress has once again chosen to rubberstamp the Patriot Act and its overreaching provisions,” Linda Murphy, Washington director of the American Civil Liberties Union, said in a statement. “Since its passage nearly a decade ago, the Patriot Act has been used improperly again and again by law enforcement to invade Americans’ privacy and violate their constitutional rights.”