Final votes on Patriot Act, trade deal bill set dramatic stage for Congress’ return

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Fox News:

The Senate’s failure to extend the USA Patriot Act will bring the legislation on NSA phone-record collection and other key surveillance activities perilously close to expiring on June 1, forcing senators to return early from recess for a rare Sunday session.

 

The Senate vote was just one of two this weekend that set the stage for dramatic showdowns on Capitol Hill in the coming weeks and months.

 

The GOP-led upper chamber passed bipartisan legislation Friday night to strengthen President Obama's hand in global trade talks. However, the legislation must now pass the Republican-led House, with help from Democrats because some conservative members oppose the legislation.

 

Speaker John Boehner supports the measure and says Republicans will do their part to pass it.

 

Dozens of House Republicans oppose the legislation either out of ideological reasons or because they are loath to enhance Obama's authority, especially at their own expense.

 

Senate and now House Democrats are showing little inclination to support legislation that much of organized labor opposes.

 

On the Patriot Act bill, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says he will bring the upper chamber back into session on Sunday, May 31 -- roughly 24 hours before the post-9/11 legislation expires.

 

Meanwhile, the National Security Agency is starting to winding down its bulk collection of domestic-calling records in preparation for the Senate voting again against the legislation, according to the Justice Department, which says the collection takes time to halt.

 

The Senate went into the early hours on Saturday morning to vote on the legislation before leaving Washington for Memorial Day recess.

 

By the time senators broke for the holiday, they had blocked a House-passed bill and several short-term extensions of the key provisions in the Patriot Act.

 

The main stumbling block was a House-passed provision to end the NSA collecting the phone-call metadata and instead have the records remain with telephone companies subject to a case-by-case review.

 

McConnell warned against allows the NSA and other key surveillance programs under the act to expire.

 

However, he and other key Republican senators oppose the House approach, backed by officials who argued it is the best way for the United States to keep valuable surveillance tools.

 

Fellow GOP Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, also a 2016 presidential candidate, called the Senate's failure to allow the extension a victory for privacy rights.

 

"We should never give up our rights for a false sense of security," Paul said in a statement. "This is only the beginning -- the first step of many. I will continue to do all I can until this illegal government spying program is put to an end, once and for all."

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Rubberstamping gets delayed...