The Senate on Tuesday blocked a bill to end bulk collection of American phone records by the National Security Agency, dealing a blow to President Barack Obama's primary proposal to rein in domestic surveillance.There is a possibility of a longer game here, in that the NSA's legal authority to collect phone data ends in June.* Maybe those opposed to the NSA spying on all of us plan to just stop it then, but frankly, I don't think that's the case. The GOP is loaded with people who have no objections to a police state, as long as the fuzz don't get in the way of the top 0.01%'s ability to amass even more money.
The 58-42 vote was two short of the 60 needed to proceed with debate. Voting was largely along party lines, with most Democrats supporting the bill and most Republicans voting against it.
On this vote, all but one Democrat voted to stop the NSA's bulk collection of Americans' telephone calls. All but four Republicans thought that the NSA's bulk collections is just peachy.
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* Rand Paul says that's why he voted to let the NSA keep on spying on all Americans, for now.
Just another example of the Republicans support for big government, regardless of what they say.
ReplyDeleteObama is disingenuous, though.
ReplyDeleteHe could easily tell the NSA to stand down. The NSA is not mandated to do this stuff - it's merely kinda authorized to do it.