U.S. Congress curbs NSA surveillance; sends bill to Obama

It shifts responsibility for storing the data to telephone companies, allowing authorities to access the information only with a warrant from a secret counterterror court that identifies a specific person or group of people suspected of terror ties.

Secret terror court? After suffering this great leap backward known as the Patriot Act, I am so glad Congress has decided to take this small step forward today. (sigh)

There should be retroactive punishments for this gross breach of public trust. But Congress won't punish their own.

The strong vote marked a stunning rebuke to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who sought in vain to amend the bill.

McConnell knows how to screw things up on Congress so that nothing gets done, he did that for years as the minority leader in the Senate, but give him real control and he flops around like a rank amateur. He could not even control the junior senator from his own state.

McConnell couldn't amend the bill because it was indefensible kneejerk reaction by Bush & co. We've been losing civil liberties for years and this is only a small step in the right direction.

The bill halts the National Security Agency’s ability to scoop up and store metadata—telephone numbers, dates and times of calls—from millions of Americans who have no connection to terrorism. It shifts responsibility for storing the data to telephone companies, allowing authorities to access the information only with a warrant from a secret counterterror court that identifies a specific person or group of people suspected of terror ties.

The NSA has whole floors at some of these telecom centers. ==> Nothing has changed except the name on the door.

McConnell knows how to screw things up on Congress so that nothing gets done, he did that for years as the minority leader in the Senate, but give him real control and he flops around like a rank amateur. He could not even control the junior senator from his own state.

And The corrupt Harry Reid was 1000X worse, maybe that's why he got that eye injury, from probably ticking someone off.

Glad the Senate finally passed the USA Freedom Act. It protects civil liberties and our national security ... “I’ll sign it as soon as I get it.

Another example of leading from behind by Obama.

Super low information U.S. proggies don't know this but four years ago a carbon copy Bill was introduced by Senators Leahy and Paul. Quiz time: Which party controlled the Senate then? It was one of the 437 proposed Bills that collected dust on Harry Reid's desk. Nothing was done in the democrat-controlled Senate nor the Oval Office.

Which party controlled the Senate then? It was one of the 437 proposed Bills that collected dust on Harry Reid's desk. Nothing was done in the democrat-controlled Senate nor the Oval Office.

Reid was the guard dog for Obama, his job was to insulate the president from any legislation coming from the GOP controlled House. This is why the Dems lost the Senate. NOTHING got done of substance except for legislations that were highly partisan and that ONLY the Dems could benefit from. Then Reid had the absolute audacity to act as if the Dems made huge gains in the Senate for the public. No wonder he got knocked out, ticked off too many people probably.

Throwing herrings, bass4funk? Reid is not relevant here..

I wonder if the KGB is going to curb their surveillance...

Throwing herrings, bass4funk? Reid is not relevant here..

Why? Because now you libs don't like it when the shoe is on the other foot? Sorry, but Reid does have a lot to do with it as a result.

I wonder if the KGB is going to curb their surveillance...

Whatcha talkin' 'bout, Willis?! This kind of thing is not even debatable there

Reid was the guard dog for Obama, his job was to insulate the president from any legislation coming from the GOP controlled House.... NOTHING got done of substance except for legislations that were highly partisan and that ONLY the Dems could benefit from.

I see. Thank you for that incisive view on why now, a bill originating in the House and passed by the Senate will be promptly vetoed by Obama. As quoted in the very article above, Obama expressed his scorn by howling:

Glad the Senate finally passed the USA Freedom Act. It protects civil liberties and our national security. I’ll sign it as soon as I get it.

Ah, well, maybe he's just pretending, or - maybe - he is willing to do what he feels is right for America regardless of partisan origin. (By the way, have you checked out what has happened to the "Hastert Rule"?)

These days, the hallmark of a conservative is kneejerk reaction against Obama and absolutely nothing more. The Supremes will rule on the ACA before the end of June, for example, and the GOP has zero plan of how to legislate Americans out of disaster if the ruling goes against the ACA. Zero, after six years. Pathetic.

Ah, well, maybe he's just pretending, or - maybe - he is willing to do what he feels is right for America regardless of partisan origin.

Yes, he most certainly has, we are all paying for it.

These days, the hallmark of a conservative is kneejerk reaction against Obama and absolutely nothing more.

Libs the exact same thing, except beat the drum to death, REALLY!

The Supremes will rule on the ACA before the end of June, for example, and the GOP has zero plan of how to legislate Americans out of disaster if the ruling goes against the ACA. Zero, after six years. Pathetic.

The definition of Pathetic: when you have a single person under the age of 40 paying a yearly premium of over $5,000 to 6,000 a year. Like I said, once Obama is gone, who will bail us out from his disastrous policies?!

There should be retroactive punishments for this gross breach of public trust. But Congress won't punish their own.

??? So anytime a law is passed that changes what is allowed, anyone who had previously been acting legally should be punished retroactively? Sorry, retroactive punishment isn't legal. You can't punish someone for doing something that the law at the time said they could do.

Another example of leading from behind by Obama.

I guess they don't teach U.S. Government at Texas A&M or perhaps you majored in the Basket-weaving track (must be one of those Division I scholarship athlete courses)? The President can't do anything about a bill until it reaches his desk. It doesn't reach his desk until both the House and the Senate have passed identical legislation. Thus, the Executive Branch is the LAST branch involved in the passing of the bill into law unless a veto override is performed. Obama, Dubya, Clinton, Bush Sr., and every President before them was the "caboose" on these lawmaking trains. This is not something peculiar to the current administration.

Super low information U.S. proggies don't know this but four years ago a carbon copy Bill was introduced by Senators Leahy and Paul. Quiz time: Which party controlled the Senate then? It was one of the 437 proposed Bills that collected dust on Harry Reid's desk.

...and that would be because in 2011 nobody knew the extent of the data collection (not even Rand or Leahy) and at the time (an election year) the majority of lawmakers were unwilling to risk being labeled by opponents as weakening the Patriot Act and our country's security for some (as far as they knew) nebulous reason that was unlikely to happen. Ask yourself why Rand and Leahy only submitted this during the election year and didn't try again? Surely it would have been much more palatable to lawmakers after the elections were over.

Nothing was done in the democrat-controlled Senate nor the Oval Office.

Again, the President hadn't received a bill to be ABLE to do anything with it.

Personally, I feel the data collection was a bit extreme, but it's not like everyone's phone calls were being recorded. All anyone has been able to uncover is that the locations of the phones were able to be determined based on the towers they connected to and the relative signal strength. The data collection was extreme because there's no sense collecting data "for National Security" if the data can't be analyzed in near real-time. Great, we know that last month a cell phone went to Jersey, but we didn't determine that until today. The only use of that delayed info would be in a courtroom trial, it wouldn't help one bit to saving the people killed in the car bomb detonated the day after the data was collected.

NOTHING got done of substance except for legislations that were highly partisan and that ONLY the Dems could benefit from.

Uh, bass, the GOP used the filibuster more than anyone is history, making it essentially 60 votes needed to pass anything in the Senate, even common sense legislation. You even had appointments with bipartisan support waiting to be confirmed, but the GOP blocked even those to appease it's more radical members.

The definition of Pathetic: when you have a single person under the age of 40

No, bass. Republicans said they would present an alternative years ago and they have not. They doubled down in January and said once again they would have an alternative in place in case the Supreme Court ruled against Obamacare. Now they are backtracking on that.

You don't have to love Obamacare to be able to look at the GOP and see they have not provided a single alternative, even after years of promises. Talking about how much you hate Democrats does not change that in any way.

Uh, bass, the GOP used the filibuster more than anyone is history, making it essentially 60 votes needed to pass anything in the Senate, even common sense legislation.

Which was good on them and they still managed to take the Congress.

You even had appointments with bipartisan support waiting to be confirmed, but the GOP blocked even those to appease it's more radical members.

And why should they go along with a president on anything they don't agree with, so you think the GOP has to jump when Obama says so?

No, bass. Republicans said they would present an alternative years ago and they have not.

True.

They doubled down in January and said once again they would have an alternative in place in case the Supreme Court ruled against Obamacare. Now they are backtracking on that.

Do you need a litany of a list on everything Obama backtracked on? Let me know.

You don't have to love Obamacare to be able to look at the GOP and see they have not provided a single alternative, even after years of promises. Talking about how much you hate Democrats does not change that in any way.

I never said it did, but the fact remains is THE PEOPLE voted out the Dems because they are the party of spend.

I admire Paul for taking on the Republican establishment. Nowadays that can result in suicide. Republicans tend to eat their own.

Personally, I feel the data collection was a bit extreme, but it's not like everyone's phone calls were being recorded. All anyone has been able to uncover is that the locations of the phones were able to be determined based on the towers they connected to and the relative signal strength. The data collection was extreme because there's no sense collecting data "for National Security" if the data can't be analyzed in near real-time.

They record at the local level with Sting-Ray. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray_phone_tracker

At the larger level data is taken off the fiber-optic line (usually at the Telephone company) http://www.theguardian.com/uk/2013/jun/21/gchq-cables-secret-world-communications-nsa

==> They basically record all information and sift thru it with the larger GCHQ type systems. The Sting-Ray probably does not have the processing ability to do that.

"The strong vote marked a stunning rebuke to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell" - article

McConnell has the daunting task of arguing for dragnet surveillance of American Citizens and the dual failures of driving Government shutdowns a the center piece of GOP-Tea political hot-dogging and threatening Seniors with the elimination of healthcare.

McConnell ends up as the lighting rod for both McCarthyism and drowning Government in the bathtub. The dysfunctional Congressional policy of the GOP-Tea as clearly illustrated how Americans are the last thing of any interest to the GOP-Tea.

Eight years of obstruction and shutdowns and now the cry baby McConnell appeal that Americans should no longer have any expectation of privacy is going to be a nagging anchor dragging the GOP-Tea under the waves of public outrage.

Hardly surprising after spending fifteen trillion on wars of lies and then turning their fire hoses of hate on the poor, elderly and children of Americans. The GOP-Tea might wake up one day and simply put the American People somewhere near the top of their priorities instead of the Profits of their Corporate Masters.

Too bad McConnell wants so badly to listen to grandma chatter with her grandchildren as his policy of national security.