Boehner tells Senate to pass NSA reform ‘expeditiously’

Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) is putting new pressure on the Senate to renew expiring parts of the Patriot Act, mere hours before they are set to run out.

“Al Qaeda, ISIL and other terrorists around the globe continue to plot attacks on America and our allies,” Boehner said in a statement on Sunday afternoon. ISIL is an alternate acronym for the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS), the extremist group.

{mosads}“Anyone who is satisfied with letting this critical intelligence capability go dark isn’t taking the terrorist threat seriously,” he added. “I’d urge the Senate to pass the bipartisan USA Freedom Act, and do so expeditiously.”

The comments appear to be a dig at Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.), who has pledged to kill the counterterrorism provisions by forcing the Senate to debate on the issue past midnight, when they will expire. Paul’s firm stance has inspired ire from all corners over the weekend, amid some skepticism that he is using the pulpit to focus attention of his White House campaign.

At the same time, Boehner’s comments also come as a rebuke to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.), who has opposed the USA Freedom Act. The bill would renew the Patriot Act provisions but end the National Security Agency’s (NSA) bulk collection of Americans’ phone records, which McConnell has said would cripple the country’s ability to respond to terrorists.

McConnell’s steadfast resistance to reforming the NSA led him to oppose the USA Freedom Act for weeks — even after it sailed through the House 338-88 — and increased the likelihood that the law would expire at the end of the day.

Senators are coming back to Washington for an extremely rare Sunday evening voting session. While the votes seem to have aligned for the USA Freedom Act to move forward, Paul’s ability to use procedural tools to stretch debate out for days threatens to take the measures offline.