Republican wall crushes NSA bill

A wall of Republican opposition brought down a controversial National Security Agency reform bill Tuesday night, leaving the future of the package in doubt ahead of a Republican takeover next year.

Sen. Patrick Leahy’s legislation that would end the NSA’s bulk data collection narrowly fell short of the Senate’s 60-vote threshold, 58-42, a major defeat for privacy advocates, civil libertarians and a White House that supports the bill. The filibuster of the proposal prevents it from even coming to the floor for debate.


Opposition was led by Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell and colleague Sen. Rand Paul, who both voted down the legislation, though for different reasons. McConnell, like many Republicans, voted it down because he believed the reforms went too far, while Paul voted against the bill because it did not go far enough.

Paul said immediately after the vote that he “felt bad” about his vote against the motion.

“They probably needed my vote,” he said, opposing Leahy’s bill because it would extend the sunset provisions for the laws authorizing surveillance. “It’s hard for me to vote for something I object to so much.”

Other heavy hitters joined the view that NSA proposal would make it difficult to combat terrorism, a crowd that included Marco Rubio of Florida, another potential White House aspirant.

“They cannot cite a single example of this program being abused,” Rubio said of the bill’s supporters. “Not one. We are dealing with a theoretical threat.”

Advocates of the bill made impassioned pleas to advance it past a filibuster, the rare proposal that drew the support of both GOP Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Democratic Senate Intelligence Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein of California.

“It would help address the problem of the American government spying on its citizens without cause,” said Lee, a co-sponsor of the bill, on the Senate floor before the vote. “What opponents of this bill fail to appreciate is that most Americans are deeply, deeply, concerned about the collection of their personal information.”

”It’s a carefully crafted bill,” Leahy warned ahead of the vote. “Don’t wait until next year on this.”

But in the end McConnell’s opposition proved to be the kiss of death, sidestepping legislation that threatened to prominently display the GOP’s internal divisions just weeks before Republicans take over the Senate. And the bill’s failure on Tuesday also allows the GOP to take up NSA reform on their own terms next year.

Though Lee was joined by fellow Republicans Ted Cruz of Texas, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Dean Heller of Nevada in supporting the bill, others took a dim view of the legislation.

Paul, a likely 2016 contender, said the NSA legislation failed to enact enough sweeping reforms like ending the Patriot Act. McConnell, on the other hand, “strongly” opposed the legislation because he believed it would hinder the intelligence community. The GOP leader said on Tuesday morning that it’s “the worst possible time to be tying our hands behind out backs” with the rise of the Islamic State and recent executions of Americans at the militant group’s hands.

The dual-track opposition from Paul and more traditional hawks like Rubio and McConnell made it impossible for chief Senate sponsor Leahy and the White House to pass the legislation during the waning days of Democrats’ Senate majority. On Monday the White House urged passage of the USA Freedom Act, arguing it would “strengthen Americans’ confidence” in the controversial data collection programs exposed by Edward Snowden last year. Leahy’s bill would require court orders for warrantless data collection, sunset the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act in 2015 to align it with the Patriot Act and create new privacy advocates in the FISA courts.

After McConnell lit into his legislation on Tuesday morning, Leahy tried to engage the Republican leader about his harsh criticism of legislation the GOP leader argued could harm the effort to destroy the Islamic State. McConnell ignored Leahy’s entreaties on the Senate floor.

In addition to McConnell siding with Paul against the legislation, the GOP leader also found himself once again at odds with a familiar foil: Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who urged the Senate to advance legislation “that’s good for this country” past an initial filibuster and pledged not to block consideration of amendments to the bill had it advanced.

But as it became clear the bill was headed toward defeat, and with little time this year to take it up again, Reid voted for the bill as it failed. Reid’s support for the bill made it procedurally difficult for him to swiftly call the legislation up for another vote, kicking the nation’s still unresolved debate over government surveillance to next year’s Congress — and new Majority Leader McConnell.

“It’s hard for me to vote for something I object to so much.” – Rand Paul

Kate Tummarello contributed to this report.