NSA reformers rule out short-term deal

Lawmakers behind a surveillance reform bill that sailed through the House this week are making it clear they won’t accept a short-term deal to accommodate Senate leaders.

A bipartisan and bicameral group of lawmakers on Thursday rejected any potential for a short-term deal to renew controversial National Security Agency (NSA) programs for just a few weeks or months while GOP leaders in the Senate come up with new legislation.

“The Senate should not delay reform again this year,” Reps. Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.), John Conyers (D-Mich.), Jim Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), Jerrold Nadler (D-N.Y.) and Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) said in a joint statement the day after the House overwhelmingly passed the USA Freedom Act.

{mosads}“The USA Freedom Act is a carefully crafted compromise that has the support of the intelligence community, technology industry and privacy groups,” they added. “For this reason, we will not agree to any extension of the NSA’s bulk collection program, which has already been ruled unlawful by the Second Circuit Court of Appeals.”

That sentiment was echoed by Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) during his weekly press conference on Thursday.

“The House has acted to make sure that the administration has the tools to keep Americans safe,” he told reporters. “It’s time for the Senate to act.”

The firm stance throws a wrench at one possible course of action in the Senate, where Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) has found himself in a bind by refusing to take up the House bill. The USA Freedom Act would weaken U.S. security and take the country back to the days before Sept. 11, 2001, he has said.

Instead, he is pushing for a “clean” bill reauthorizing without changes expiring portions of the Patriot Act, including the measure that the NSA used to authorize its phone records collection. Last week, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals declared that the law does not allow the NSA to collect millions of Americans’ phone records, but it declined to shut the program down.

In lieu of a clear path forward in the Senate, some watchers have speculated that lawmakers might have to settle on a short-term bill, if only to extend the deadline for another few weeks.

Thursday’s statements make clear that won’t fly in the House.