McConnell, top GOP senators throw support behind surveillance deal as deadline looms

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) and a cadre of top Republican senators threw their support behind a House-passed bill that would reauthorize soon-to-expire intelligence programs and reform the surveillance court.

The joint statement comes as Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) are racing to try to get President Trump to agree to veto the legislation, effectively killing the agreement.

In addition to McConnell, Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), the majority leader’s No. 2; Judiciary Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.); Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.); and Senator John Cornyn (R-Texas), a member of GOP leadership and the Judiciary and Intelligence Committees, threw their support behind the deal.

The five GOP senators said in a joint statement that the Senate will take up the legislation and that they “look forward to voting to pass it in the Senate as soon as possible.”

“This legislation balances the need to reauthorize these critical authorities with the need for tailored reforms to increase accountability. The 2016 election made it abundantly clear that the FISA process is not perfect. We commend House Republicans for working closely with Attorney General Barr to craft a bill that contains concrete changes to address the abuses of 2016 without jeopardizing the resources that keep Americans safe,” the senior GOP senators added.

Congress has until Sunday night to reauthorize three soon-to-expire provisions of the 2015 USA Freedom Act. In addition to dealing with the intelligence programs, the House bill would also make reforms to the court associated with the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).

McConnell began the process of putting the bill on the Senate calendar on Wednesday night, a first step to it getting a vote. He is expected to complete that process on Thursday.

If opponents forced him to file cloture, a procedural move that eats up days of floor time, that means the earliest an initial vote could take place is Saturday morning. The bill would then still face up to an additional 30 hours of debate.

A growing number of Republicans have raised concerns about the FISA court after Justice Department inspector general Michael Horowitz found 17 significant inaccuracies and omissions in the FISA warrant applications related to Trump campaign associate Carter Page.

But opponents argue the House bill, which passed Wednesday in a 278-136 vote, does not go far enough to provide more transparency and privacy protections for those targeted.

The issue has divided some of Trump’s biggest allies on Capitol Hill. While Lee and Paul oppose the House bill, Graham and House members including Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) support it.

Paul, in particular, wants to get language in the bill that would prevent FISA warrants from being used against American citizens, as well as preventing information collected in the FISA court from being used against Americans in domestic court.

“I think this so-called FISA reform does a disservice to the president. I think nothing it will prevent this from happening again … to another president,” Paul said.