The U.S. Senate on Wednesday failed to pass a bill that would have dramatically expanded the FBI’s warrantless surveillance powers, but the fight is not over as Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell may call for a second vote on the proposed legislation.
According to the digital rights group Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), McConnell “switched his vote to ‘No’ at the last minute so that he may be able to bring up the amendment during future debate.”
Civil liberties groups are mobilizing against the bill, sponsored by Sens. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and John Cornyn (R-Texas), with the ACLU issuing a statement to lawmakers urging them to “abandon this misguided effort” to address national security concerns in the wake of the Orlando shooting.
As Common Dreams reported on Tuesday, the measure, attached to a criminal justice appropriations bill, would expand the FBI’s authority to use the so-called National Security Letters (NSL) to obtain Electronic Communication Transaction Records (ECTR) such as email time stamps, senders, and recipients, as well as browsing metadata such as history and location—all without a warrant.
Senators who supported the bill said it was necessary to expand law enforcement powers as a counterterrorism tool. But opponents, including Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) warned that doing so “takes a hatchet to important protections for Americans’ liberty.”
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