No. 2 GOP senator: ‘Fantasy’ that House would reject changes to NSA bill

Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) on Tuesday dismissed warnings that the House will reject any changes senators make to the USA Freedom Act.

{mosads}”Since when did the United States Senate outsource its decision making to the other body across the Capitol?” Cornyn asked. “The Senate should not be a rubber stamp for the House or vice versa.”

He added that it was a “fantasy” that the House would flatly reject any changes, suggesting that lawmakers would pass the bill.

The Senate is expected to vote on Tuesday afternoon on a handful of amendments to the National Security Agency (NSA) reform bill. If any of them are approved, the bill would be sent back and have to be reapproved by the House.

The USA Freedom Act would renew provisions of the Patriot Act that expired at midnight Sunday. It would also phase out the NSA’s bulk collection of phone records.

Amendments from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) would require phone companies to tell the federal government if they planned to change their how they retained phone records, give the NSA one year to end its bulk collection program, and give the government more oversight of a new advisory panel on the secretive federal court overseeing intelligence matters.

Cornyn’s comments come as House lawmakers have repeatedly warned that any changes to the legislation would endanger the bill’s chances and urged the Senate to pass it as is.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), Judiciary Committee ranking member John Conyers (D-Mich.) and Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.) and Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) said Monday that the House “is not likely to accept” any of McConnell’s changes.

Sen. Steve Daines (R-Mont.) joined Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) on Tuesday, pledging to vote against all of McConnell’s amendments.

Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal (Conn.), Ron Wyden (Ore.) and Patrick Leahy (Vt.) have also criticized and pledged to vote against McConnell’s amendments.