Goodlatte, Leahy Encourage Senate To Pass USA Freedom; EFF Advocates for Sunset
House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., and Senate Judiciary ranking member Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., encouraged the Senate in a joint news release Tuesday to pass the House version of the USA Freedom Act when the upper body reconvenes Sunday,…
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hours before the law's Section 215 sunsets (see 1505260038">1505260038). The USA Freedom Act “remains the only viable legislative option that will bring real reform and ensure no lapse in intelligence authorities,” Goodlatte and Leahy said. “The House-passed bill is the only bill the Senate can pass and send to the President before Sunday night’s deadline.” The Senate Saturday rejected Majority Leader Mitch McConnell's, R-Ky., proposal to reauthorize Section 215 of the Patriot Act for even one day, which Electronic Frontier Foundation Activist Nadia Kayyali called, in an email to EFF supporters Wednesday, a “major victory for civil liberties.” Surveillance defenders "will do anything they can to protect the NSA’s powers,” Kayyali wrote. Though House leadership has said the House would reject short-term reauthorization, McConnell is “attempting to bully the Senate into a last minute extension of the program,” Kayyali said. Kayyali encouraged the members of the American public to contact their senator and ensure the 54 senators who voted against reauthorization don’t change their minds when the Senate reconvenes Sunday. There are four days to ensure that when Section 215 sunsets at midnight, “it’s dead for good,” Kayyali said.