All about USA Freedom Act - POPVox
USA Freedom Act ( https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/114/hr2048?utm_campaign=website&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email) (House bill, HR 2048)
Sponsor: Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) To reform intelligence-gathering programs operated under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). According to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-VA) ( http://judiciary.house.gov/index.cfm/usa-freedom-act?utm_campaign=website&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email?utm_campaign=website&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email), the bill:
- Ends bulk collection (“In place of the current bulk telephone metadata program, the USA Freedom Act creates a narrower, targeted program that allows the Intelligence Community to collect non-content call detail records held by the telephone companies, but only with the prior approval of the FISA Court. The records provided to the government in response to queries will be limited to two “hops” and the government’s handling of any records it acquires would be governed by minimization procedures approved by the FISA Court.”);
- Prevents government overreach (“strengthens the definition of “specific selection term,” – the mechanism used to prohibit bulk collection – to ensure the government can collect the information it needs to further a national security investigation while also prohibiting large-scale, indiscriminate collection, such as data from an entire state, city, or even zip code.”);
- Strengthens protections for civil liberties (“creates a panel of experts to advise the FISA Court on matters of privacy and civil liberties, communications technology, and other technical or legal matters.”). (Source: House Judiciary Committee ( http://judiciary.house.gov/index.cfm/usa-freedom-act)) (Read bill text ( https://www.popvox.com/bills/us/114/hr2048?utm_campaign=website&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email#bill))
>From our Hill Sources: The Senate started working with the House-passed bill, but it failed to achieve cloture by two votes. The Senate then attempted to pass a straight two-month extension of the PATRIOT Act, and that failed to achieve cloture as well.
At that point, Majority Leader asked (many times) for unanimous consent to shorter-term extensions, but senators (primarily Senator Rand Paul) continued to object. (Watch that exchange ( http://www.c-span.org/video/?c4538856/rand-paul-objects-patriot-act-extension&utm_campaign=website&utm_source=sendgrid.com&utm_medium=email))
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