Administration Ramps Up NSA Pitch as Burr Makes New Offer
As the Senate Intelligence chairman floated a new proposal, the Obama administration is warning senators against doing anything other than clearing the USA Freedom Act.
A senior administration official said late Thursday that even adopting a short-term extension of the expiring provisions of the Patriot Act could set up a “very uncertain future for these national security authorities.”
Some of the uncertainty, as the administration is seeking to make clear to senators, arises from the 2nd Circuit’s decision against the bulk collection of phone records by the National Security Agency.
“We want to make clear what we see as a very uncertain and risky path for these authorities if USA Freedom isn’t passed,” a senior administration official said. “What we’ve doing to talk to senators about USA Freedom is spelling out exactly that. The fact that the court acted the way it did … the fact that these provisions expire at midnight on May 31, and the fact that the House has now recessed we think combines to make a very, very uncertain and risky future as it relates to these authorities, including the reforms to the telephone metadata programs, but also to the other authorities.”
The comments from the officials came after a prediction by Senate Intelligence Chairman Richard M. Burr that the USA Freedom Act would not get the 60 votes needed advance.
With his own preferred option also unlikely to get the needed supermajority, Burr’s preparing to unveil a new bill.