Senators: No 'watered down' NSA reform

The Hill ^ | 6.17.14 | Julian Hattem

[koanhead]

Three senators are doubling down on their call for a sweeping end to the National Security Agency’s “dragnet surveillance.”

Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) and Mark Udall (D-Colo.) pledged on Tuesday to fight against “limited” and “watered down” legislation to reform the spy agency, which they said includes the bill that passed the House last month.

“This is clearly not the meaningful reform that Americans have demanded, so we will vigorously oppose this bill in its current form and continue to push for real changes to the law,” they wrote in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times.

“This firm commitment to both liberty and security is what Americans — including the dedicated men and women who work at our nation's intelligence agencies — deserve," they added. "We will not settle for less.”

The three senators, who have been among the most vocal critics of the NSA in the upper chamber, said that any reform bill must end a “loophole” allowing the government to snoop on some Americans’ emails without a warrant, add a special advocate to the federal court overseeing the intelligence community and clearly prevent bulk collection of Americans’ phone records.

Those measures were included in the original version of the USA Freedom Act, which cleared in the House in a 303-121 vote last month, but were removed or edited in negotiations before the bill hit the floor....

[koanhead]

Typical Washington scam -- when they realize that they can't get away with outright ignoring the will of the people, they concoct some song-and-dance routine to pretend they're doing what the people want while actually doing whatever the hell they want.

[Georgia Girl 2]

I don’t think so. Rand Paul may not be the best guy for the Whitehouse in 2016 but he has steadfastly fought for our personal freedoms and has tried to roll back the police state at every opportunity. We need more guys like him in the Senate.

Without our freedoms everything else is meaningless.

[Flash Bazbeaux]

Welcome Koanhead. Great screen name.