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| Senate to vote on NSA surveillance powers and USA Freedom Act – live | Senate to vote on NSA surveillance powers and USA Freedom Act – live |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| The Senate is scheduled to start debate on the USA Freedom Act at 9.30am ET, and to vote for an end on debate around or before 11am ET. The pertinent question – for readers and senators – is what does the USA Freedom Act do? | |
| Some civil liberties advocates, senator Rand Paul among them, argue that the bill’s reforms are far too diluted – that the three Patriot Act provisions should be left dead, and that intelligence agencies still have far too much rein to delve into Americans’ private lives. On the other side, hawks have drafted amendments that would bolster surveillance programs. | |
| For a quick rundown of Tuesday’s stakes, my colleague Ben Jacobs (@bencjacobs) has written an FAQ of the status of the Patriot Act and the NSA and FBI’s spying powers, with questions about what parts of the Patriot Act are expected to return and whether the bill ought to pass. | |
| Most of the Patriot Act – the sweeping and controversial Bush-era anti-terror law – still remains on the books. But Section 215, which allows the FBI to collect business records, like tax, medical and library records, has now expired. | |
| Also gone are two other authorities for the FBI: the “roving wiretap” provision, which permits surveillance on a target across devices, and the “lone wolf” provision, which permits surveillance on a target believed to be a terrorist but without established connections to a terrorist group (which the FBI has never even used). | |
| Government surveillance programs didn’t totally go dark at midnight on Monday – they just have fewer tools at their disposal. | |
| Are these provisions of the Patriot Act gone forever? | |
| Some aspects are – for example, collecting telephone records in bulk – but mostly they’ll come back in the USA Freedom Act, a reform bill that the Senate voted to advance on Sunday night. It passed overwhelmingly in the House, but some critics of surveillance programs – like Republican presidential candidate Rand Paul – think it is too weak. | |
| Does advancing a bill mean it will pass? | |
| In this case, yes. The Senate’s rules are notoriously complex and the vote last night was “on cloture on the motion to proceed”, which means it sought to limit debate on a motion to actually reconsider the bill. This means the bill jumped through the first of many procedural hurdles in that chamber and is now on a glide path to passage. | |
| You can read the full FAQ here. | |
| Hello and welcome to our coverage of Congress’s vote on the surveillance powers of the NSA and FBI, some of which expired at midnight 1 June for the first time in the post-9/11 era as the Senate failed to resolve its concerns over the programs revealed to the Guardian two years ago by whistleblower Edward Snowden. | Hello and welcome to our coverage of Congress’s vote on the surveillance powers of the NSA and FBI, some of which expired at midnight 1 June for the first time in the post-9/11 era as the Senate failed to resolve its concerns over the programs revealed to the Guardian two years ago by whistleblower Edward Snowden. |
| The Senate will vote before midday ET to end debate on the USA Freedom Act, a bill that would limit some NSA powers and crack the door open on the secret Fisa court that oversees some surveillance programs. | The Senate will vote before midday ET to end debate on the USA Freedom Act, a bill that would limit some NSA powers and crack the door open on the secret Fisa court that oversees some surveillance programs. |
| The vote comes after the lapse on Sunday night of Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which was used by the NSA to collect Americans’ phone records in bulk and which was ruled illegal by a federal appeals court in May. | The vote comes after the lapse on Sunday night of Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which was used by the NSA to collect Americans’ phone records in bulk and which was ruled illegal by a federal appeals court in May. |
| Surveillance hawks, led by Republican majority leader Mitch McConnell, had fought for a temporary renewal of the complete Patriot Act and all its programs, but failed to convince the factions of a divided Senate. | Surveillance hawks, led by Republican majority leader Mitch McConnell, had fought for a temporary renewal of the complete Patriot Act and all its programs, but failed to convince the factions of a divided Senate. |
| Another faction, backed by the White House, supports the USA Freedom Act – which has already been passed by the House of Representatives – as a “reasonable compromise”, and a third, led by senators Rand Paul, a Republican, and Ron Wyden, a Democrat, have urged greater restrictions on the NSA than are currently included in the bill. | Another faction, backed by the White House, supports the USA Freedom Act – which has already been passed by the House of Representatives – as a “reasonable compromise”, and a third, led by senators Rand Paul, a Republican, and Ron Wyden, a Democrat, have urged greater restrictions on the NSA than are currently included in the bill. |
| On Monday, McConnell conceded that a “clean” renewal of the Patriot Act would not pass, and drafted amendments to the USA Freedom Act that he hopes will restore as many surveillance powers as possible. | On Monday, McConnell conceded that a “clean” renewal of the Patriot Act would not pass, and drafted amendments to the USA Freedom Act that he hopes will restore as many surveillance powers as possible. |
| Paul, who forced the expiration of the Patriot Act provisions on Sunday night, is likely to speak for as long as he can and criticize the bill as merely a restructuring of NSA programs. | Paul, who forced the expiration of the Patriot Act provisions on Sunday night, is likely to speak for as long as he can and criticize the bill as merely a restructuring of NSA programs. |
| The Senate is expected to have the 60 votes necessary to end debate, and in the afternoon will vote on amendments to the bill – and finally, possibly, the bill itself. | The Senate is expected to have the 60 votes necessary to end debate, and in the afternoon will vote on amendments to the bill – and finally, possibly, the bill itself. |
| Should any of the amendments pass, the bill will have to return to the House of Representatives, which passed it with bipartisan support last month. | Should any of the amendments pass, the bill will have to return to the House of Representatives, which passed it with bipartisan support last month. |
| In this case the “blackout” of some surveillance programs would continue at least until the House vote. | In this case the “blackout” of some surveillance programs would continue at least until the House vote. |
| We’ll have live coverage throughout the day today. | We’ll have live coverage throughout the day today. |