Washington (CNN)Opponents
of the National Security Agency's bulk collection of telephone data
successfully blocked multiple attempts in the Senate early Saturday
morning to extend the expiring law that authorizes the program.
The
developments, coming in a rare overnight session, leave in doubt the
ability of Congress to keep alive the Patriot Act program that many feel
is critical to national security but has also alarmed privacy advocates
for its sweeping nature.
First, the
Senate blocked two separate measures. The first, a House-passed bill
that would shift responsibility for holding data from the government to
telecommunications companies, while also imposing stricter limitations
on how authorities could access the information, failed in a 57-42 vote.
The second measure was a two-month extension beyond the current law's
June 1 expiration date, which was voted down 54-45.
Paul's marathon Senate session 02:49
Kentucky
Republican Sen. Rand Paul, who's also seeking his party's nomination
for President, led the charge against the program, repeatedly objecting
to requests from Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell to extend it by
just a few days.
"We have entered into
a momentous debate," said Paul, who said he objected because his
request for a guarantee of two amendments on a future bill dealing with
the NSA program was denied. "This is a debate about whether a warrant
with a single name of a single company can be used to collect all of the
phone records of all of the people in our country with a single
warrant. Our forefathers would be aghast."
Later,
standing on the floor in the hushed chamber, McConnell made repeated
attempts to keep the law alive. The first was to extend the NSA's
authority to June 8, which was objected to by Paul. McConnell's next
attempt was to extend to June 5, which was objected to by Oregon
Democratic Sen. Ron Wyden, an ally of Paul on the issue. An attempt by
McConnell at a June 3 deadline was denied by Sen. Martin Heinrich, D-New
Mexico. Finally, McConnell requested the program be extended until June
2, just one day after the law is set to expire, and Paul objected
again.
Senators,
who throughout the week generally thought a short-term extension would
eventually be approved, appeared stunned by the swift exchanges between
McConnell and the three opponents of the program. Gasps were audible.
An
exasperated McConnell then took off his microphone and huddled with his
leadership colleagues, searching for what to do next. After a few
minutes, he returned to the podium and announced the Senate would
adjourn and return to work a week from Sunday and try to find a way to
keep the law in existence.
Rand Paul's political life 20 photos
"We'll
be back on Sunday, May 31, one more opportunity to act responsibly to
not allow this program to expire," he said around 1:30 a.m. "This is a
high-threat period. We know what's going on overseas. We know what's
been tried here at home. My colleagues, do we really want this law to
expire?"
By the time McConnell spoke,
the visitors' gallery was largely empty. But a small group of people,
wearing brightly-colored "Stand with Rand" T-shirts, remained.
McConnell
wasn't the only senator who was frustrated with Paul's tactics. Some
senators privately grumbled about having to stay late as the Memorial
Day weekend got underway, and Missouri Democratic Sen. Claire McCaskill
tweeted that the Kentucky senator was using the moment to "grandstand."
Later Saturday morning, New
Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a likely presidential candidate and a former
U.S. attorney, blasted the Senate's votes, and indirectly referenced
Paul in his criticism.
"The Senate's
failure to extend the Patriot Act is a failure of the U.S. government to
perform its most important function: protecting its citizens from
harm," Christie said. "This is the unfortunate result of misguided
ideologues who have no real world experience in fighting terrorism
putting their uninformed beliefs above the safety and security of our
citizens. This dysfunction is what we have come to expect from
Washington, D.C., but usually it does not have such dangerous and severe
consequences."
But in a fundraising
email sent out Saturday morning -- entitled "Last night I put NSA spying
on life support" -- the Kentucky senator trumpeted his actions.
"Fellow conservative," Paul said in the email, "I stood up to the surveillance state every step of way."
