(MENAFN- Kuwait News Agency (KUNA)) The US Senate held a rare Sunday session to try to speed up passage of the USA Freedom Act, a bill that would renew authorization for national security agencies to monitor individuals suspected of terrorism and end collection of phone data from Americans not suspected of terrorist activity.
The Senate voted 77-17 to advance the bill but final passage of the USA Freedom Act will not come into effect later in the week, past the midnight expiration.
In his Radio Address on Saturday, President Barack Obama urged the Senate to pass a final version of the bill. Obama called upon FBI Diretcor James Comey who said it was "essential" to maintain the authority to wiretap suspected terrorists and that losing it would "severely" impact terrorism investigations.
"So what's the problem? A small group of senators is standing in the way. And, unfortunately, some folks are trying to use this debate to score political points. But this shouldn't and can't be about politics," said Obama.
The lack of a finalized version was in part due to Senator and Presidential candidate, Republican Rand Paul, who is against the National Security Agency's (NSA) program of data collection altogether but wants the USA Freedom Act to pass in order to end bulk collection of metadata from American's phone calls.
"This is a debate over the Bill of Rights," said Paul on the Senate floor. "This is a debate over your right to be left alone." In a statement that came out late Sunday, White House Spokesperson Josh Earnest commented, "The Senate took an important-if late-step forward tonight. We call on the Senate to ensure this irresponsible lapse in authorities is as short-lived as possible. On a matter as critical as our national security, individual Senators must put aside their partisan motivations and act swiftly. The American people deserve nothing less."
He noted, "The USA Freedom Act struck a reasonable compromise balancing security and privacy-allowing us to continue to protect the country while implementing various reforms." Speaker of the House John Boehner, who is often at odds with Obama's policies, also pressed for the Senate to pass a finalized version of the bill. In a statement before the Senate convened on Sunday he said, "Anyone who is satisfied with letting this critical intelligence capability go dark isn't taking the terrorist threat seriously.
I'd urge the Senate to pass the bipartisan USA Freedom Act, and do so expeditiously." CIA Director John Brennan also explained the importance of renewing policies in the Patriot Act while on CBS' Face the Nation Sunday morning. He asserted, "The tools that we had under the Patriot Act, those ways that we are able to monitor their activities, really have helped stop attacks.
These tools are all part of a package of safeguards that have been put in place." He concluded, "I think that there has been a little too much political grandstanding and crusading for ideological causes that have skewed the debate on this issue. But these tools are important to American lives."
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