Senate

Senate heads toward internet surveillance fight

by Jordain Carney - 06/21/16 5:18 PM ET

The Senate is heading toward a battle over expanding the FBI’s surveillance powers, a week after the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.

Senators are expected to take a procedural vote Wednesday on a proposal from Senate Republicans that would allow the FBI to use “national security letters” to obtain people’s internet browsing history and other information without a warrant during a terrorism or federal intelligence probe.

{mosads}It would also permanently extend a Patriot Act provision — currently set to expire in 2019 — meant to monitor “lone wolf” extremists.

Republicans, noting they have the backing of the White House and the FBI, argue the measure amounts to fixing a “typo” in the current law.

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), who is spearheading the measure as an amendment to the commerce, justice and science appropriations bill, said he was “astounded” that it won’t be approved unanimously.

“If the FBI is able to go into your financial written records, if they’re able to go into your telephone records, then pray tell what is the difference between those and electronic records?” he asked.

McCain’s amendment is backed by Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and Republican Sens. Richard Burr (N.C.), John Cornyn (Texas), Jeff Sessions (Ala.) and Tom Cotton (Ark.).

Republicans stress that their proposal would give law enforcement access to so-called metadata but not the actual content of an email.

But their proposal has sparked pushback from Democrats and outside groups over concerns that it would violate Americans’ privacy rights.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is urging senators to vote against the amendment.

Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) called the GOP proposal a “substantial mistake.”

Democrats said Tuesday that they will offer an alternative measure. Either would need 60 votes to clear the Senate.

Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) told reporters that the Democratic amendment would increase FBI funding, make someone criminally liable if they sell a firearm with reasonable knowledge that it will be used to carry out an act of terrorism, and create “beefed up protections on LGBT.”

GOP senators have been pushing for the electronic records provision for months. An email privacy bill stalled in the Judiciary Committee last month after a similar amendment was filed.

Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), who supported the email privacy legislation, linked the surveillance fight to a stalled push to crack down on gun-control laws after senators rejected four proposals Monday evening.

“I see an irony that they don’t want to do anything to close the gun show loophole, they don’t want to have any restrictions, they want to protect the NRA before they do people. … But to snoop into your emails, wow, that’s a given. Doesn’t make sense to me,” he told reporters.

The surveillance fight comes less than two weeks after gunman Omar Mateen — who was at one point on a federal watchlist — killed 49 people during a shooting at a gay nightclub in Orlando.

Republicans argue the changes would help prevent future attacks.

Cornyn said that “it will allow the FBI to collect the dots so they can connect the dots, and that’s been the biggest problem that they’ve had in identifying these homegrown, radicalized terrorists, like the shooter in Orlando.”

Julian Hattem and Mario Trujillo contributed.