NSA spying bill stalls in Senate vote

Erin Kelly, USA TODAY 8:02 p.m. EST November 18, 2014

Former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in Moscow. Snowden last year the NSA's mass collection of Americans' phone data.(Photo: Uncredited, AP)

WASHINGTON The Senate on Tuesday failed to get the 60 votes needed to advance a bill that would stop the National Security Agency from collecting the phone records of millions of Americans who are not suspected of any crime.

Senators voted 58-42 in favor of a motion to allow the USA Freedom Act to come to an up or down vote in the Senate. The motion required 60 votes to pass.

The bill is effectively dead for this year and is unlikely to be revived when the new Congress convenes in January. However, the controversial NSA program will most likely be debated again next year as Congress decides whether to renew sections of the Patriot Act anti-terrorism law that are set to expire in June.

The Freedom Act would have brought an end to the NSA's mass collection of phone data more than a year after the program was revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

Snowden's revelations outraged both liberal and conservative lawmakers, who decried the NSA's "big brother" snooping on innocent Americans. But some analysts said that anger has lessened as terrorist threats against the USA by the Islamic State and other extremist groups have gained attention.

"In the past five or six months, we have witnessed heightened U.S. national security concerns with terrorist threats, geopolitical problems, and cybersecurity challenges from Russia and China," said David Fidler, professor of law at Indiana University's Center for Applied Cybersecurity Research. "Addressing these concerns requires strong American intelligence and surveillance capabilities creating the potential for stronger opposition to the Snowden-inspired reforms today than existed only a few months ago."

The Freedom Act was sponsored by a rare bipartisan coalition of senators ranging from liberal Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., to Tea Party favorite Ted Cruz, R-Texas. But it did not go far enough to satisfy some privacy advocates in both parties, including Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. And it was opposed by hawkish lawmakers who argued that it would hamstring U.S. intelligence agencies at a time when terrorist threats against the United States are rising.

Major U.S. tech companies pushed for its approval, complaining that the NSA controversy has made it hard for them to convince foreign customers that they will not be spied upon by the U.S. government if they use U.S. phone or Internet providers.

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NSA spying bill stalls in Senate vote