After a post-midnight vote Saturday, the U.S. Senate took no action to extend or revise the National Security Agency’s controversial phone data surveillance program, and the program along with other sections of the Patriot Act is set to expire as planned on June 1.
“Sunsetting the Patriot Act is the biggest win for ending mass surveillance programs, and one that conventional DC wisdom said was impossible. We are seeing history in the making and it was because the public stood up for our rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association — and there’s no turning back now,” Tiffiniy Cheng, co-founder of Fight for the Future, an anti-government surveillance group said in a news release.
A cohort of House members including government surveillance critic Rep. Rand Paul (R-KY) rejected Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s (R-KY) proposed amendments to the bill that would extend the program, the Washington Post reported. The Senate could not muster the 60 votes needed to move forward with the NSA reform bill, the USA Freedom Act, passed by the U.S. House of Representatives last week.
The failed 57–42 procedural vote early Saturday blocked the only bill that could prevent a complete shutdown of the NSA’s metadata program. The bill also would have been a compromise with the White House and civil liberties advocates to limit the government’s data collection abilities under Section 215 of the Patriot Act. McConnell said the Senate would return May 31 to vote again and prevent the program from expiring completely at 12:01 am June 1.
With Congress now in recess until after the Memorial Day holiday, the NSA said it will begin dismantling its program so that no new data queries can be made after June 1. Queries approved under Section 215 and originally set to expire after June 1 would continue through their expiration date, in the event of a complete sunset of the program.
The official sunset of Section 215 is a great victory for privacy advocates who felt emboldened by a recent court decision that deemed the NSA program illegal. At this juncture, Congress could take up new legislation to reinstate the program if the May 31 vote fails , or it can return to a higher set of standards that were in place before the Patriot Act.
As the Brennan Center for Justice’s Elizabeth Goitein put it: “The Patriot Act did not invent surveillance or the collection of business records. We’ll just go back to a system where surveillance is predicated on individuals.”
Update:
This post incorrectly stated that the phone surveillance program would expire June 1. It has been updated to report the Senate’s plan to hold another vote May 31.