With the USA PATRIOT Act’s bulk data collection authority set to expire at the end of the month without congressional action and most of Congress away for recess, civil libertarian Congressman Justin Amash (R-MI) is remaining in town to attend the House of Representatives’ pro forma sessions to prevent Speaker John Boehner from taking advantage of a low turnout to use a voice vote to extend the legislation’s expiring spy powers.
Barry Donegan
Truth In Media
5/27/2015
Most of Congress might be away for the week, but the chess game between civil libertarians and security hawks over the USA PATRIOT Act’s expiring bulk phone records collection powers rages on unabated. After Senator Rand Paul ran the clock out on the PATRIOT Act by first filibustering and then objecting to even the briefest extensions of the legislation’s Section 215 spying authority until the moment the Senate left for recess, the Obama administration began to wind down the National Security Agency’s mass hoarding of Americans’ private data…
…Though John Boehner’s aides have said that he will not use the underhanded technique to override the will of the House, Justin Amash tweeted the Ronald Reagan quote “Trust, but verify” as he left Tuesday’s uneventful pro forma session. Pro-privacy Congressman Thomas Massie (R-KY) said last Thursday, “I just asked for an assurance [that Boehner will not extend the PATRIOT Act via voice vote] and they wouldn’t give it to me.”
Another pro forma session, viewed largely as a poorly-attended formality during recess weeks, is scheduled for Friday…
The complete article is at Truth in Media.
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