Senate votes to renew federal surveillance powers
Measure imposes new restrictions aimed at protecting civil liberties
WASHINGTON — The Senate has passed legislation that would extend a set of expired federal surveillance tools designed to help law enforcement officials track suspected terrorists and spies, moving one step closer to reviving them.
The legislation passed the Senate 80-16 on Thursday. The bill is a bipartisan compromise that has the support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell. The Justice Department, which had been part of the negotiations, said it appreciated that the expired authorities had been reauthorized but expressed disappointment with the tweaked version of the bill that ultimately passed.
It’s unclear how quickly the legislation can become law. The House passed the bill in March, but will have to pass it again due to a change in the Senate. The House has been holding votes on a limited basis due to the coronavirus pandemic.
President Donald Trump has said he will support the compromise, but GOP senators who are longtime skeptics of federal surveillance have tried to change his mind.
They want him to veto it. The bill would renew the expired surveillance authorities and impose new restrictions to try to appease civil liberties advocates in both parties.
The provisions at issue allow the FBI to get a court order for business records in national security investigations, to conduct surveillance without establishing that the subject is acting on behalf of an international terrorism organization, and to more easily continue eavesdropping on a subject who has switched cellphone providers to thwart detection.
“The attorney general and members of Congress have worked together to craft a compromise solution that will implement needed reforms while preserving the core national security tools,” McConnell said on the Senate floor Wednesday. “These intense discussions have produced a strong bill that balances the need for accountability with our solemn obligation to protect our citizens and defend our homeland.”
McConnell urged senators to vote against amendments altering the bill. He said the legislation was already a “delicate balance” and warned changing it could mean the underlying provisions won’t be renewed.
“We cannot let the perfect become the enemy of the good when key authorities are currently sitting expired and unusable,” McConnell said on the Senate floor before the vote.
But senators adopted one amendment anyway, with more than three-fourths of the chamber supporting it. Another amendment came just one vote short of the 60 votes needed.
The successful amendment, from Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah and Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, would boost third-party oversight to protect individuals in some surveillance cases. It was adopted 77-19.
In a statement, Justice Department spokesman Marc Raimondi said the department appreciates the Senate’s vote but that, as amended, the legislation “would unacceptably degrade our ability to conduct surveillance of terrorists, spies and other national security threats.”