Senate lawmakers advanced legislation to reauthorize a critical government surveillance tool, but bipartisan opposition may prevent final passage in time to stop a lapse of the law at midnight Friday.
The legislation reauthorizes the government’s ability to collect troves of data — emails, texts, and phone calls — from foreigners living abroad, all without obtaining a warrant.
Americans’ communications sometimes get scooped up, too, which has raised privacy concerns among lawmakers and divided the Senate over renewing the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s Section 702.
FISA’s Section 702 expires at midnight Friday, but Senate rules prohibit a final vote on the bill before Saturday unless all 100 senators agree to speed it up. While there are enough votes to pass it, it only takes one senator to block a speedy vote.
Some lawmakers who oppose the bill are poised to slow it down, which means the spy tool could be halted temporarily.
Sen. Rand Paul, Kentucky Republican, called the government’s warrantless surveillance program “dreadful, wrong, and unconstitutional.” He wants lawmakers to vote on an amendment that would place limits on the program and require a warrant when American communications are involved.
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan called on the Senate to prevent a lapse that would lead to dangerous security gaps.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, South Carolina Republican, said letting the surveillance tool go dark, even for a few hours, “would be a disaster at a time of great threat.”
The fight over the bill pitted national security hawks in Congress who support the anti-terrorism tool against privacy hawks who want to prevent FBI abuses.
Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin, Illinois Democrat, who is also seeking an amendment that would add a warrant requirement, downplayed the danger of missing the deadline. He said the program could essentially continue even in the event of a lapse, and that Congress should take the time to reform it.
Sen. Marco Rubio of Florida, the top Republican on the Senate Intelligence Committee, slammed the idea of slowing down the bill.
“I don’t think a one-day deadline is a concern. The concern is that it accelerates beyond that. I prefer to get it done today or tomorrow, but if we can get it done on Saturday, that works,” he said. “If it goes on for weeks and months, it becomes real problematic.”
Mr. Rubio said a warrant requirement would make the surveillance tool “unworkable” and would “hurt our ability to protect Americans who might be the target of cybercrime, espionage fishing expeditions online.”
Sen. Ron Wyden, Oregon Democrat, a lawmaker who has been spearheading a makeover for FISA, said that “liberty and security are not mutually exclusive.”
“I want a good long-term policy and that’s what we’re working toward,” said Mr. Wyden.
He also wants to strip out a last-minute provision added by the House that would expand who the federal government can order “to transmit or store wire or electronic communications” to include cable TV installers and data centers.
The White House has downplayed the expansion as simply amending the law to accommodate changing communication technology.
• Kerry Picket can be reached at kpicket@washingtontimes.com.
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