On June 22, the Senate fell one vote short of attaching a rider to the Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies spending bill that would effectively grant the FBI sweeping new surveillance authority.
Though it initially lost, this measure -- called the McCain Amendment 4787 - will be put to re-vote on the Senate floor sometime this week by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, who spearheaded the legislation.
The McCain Amendment 4787 would specifically allow federal authorities warrantless access to all sorts of citizens' private and personally identifying information, including:
- Real names, physical addresses, email addresses, and telephone numbers
- Credit card and bank account numbers and purchase history
- Web browsing history (obtained from your ISP)
- Local and long-distance phone call history
You won't have to be on a terrorist watch list to have your Internet browser history scanned by the Feds...
And you won't have to apply for a mortgage to have your credit score arbitrarily examined by the government either.
In spite of the obvious over-reach this bill would allow, there are many senators, both Democratic and Republican, rooting for it to pass...
List of Senators Supporting the Invasive FBI Bill
Senators who initially supported this amendment were largely driven by fear. They didn't want to seem soft on terror in the wake of tragedies in Orlando and San Bernardino (Dallas, of course, had not happened yet).
Those policymakers were...
The fact that these pro-warrantless surveillance senators lost by one vote shows just how divided the chamber truly is on this measure.
So the results of this week's revote - especially after Dallas - could go either way.
It all depends primarily upon the following legislators, who FightForTheFuture.org - an online nonprofit civic campaign site - believes will be the ultimate deciders of McCain amendment 4787's fate...
- Ted Cruz (R-TX)
- Jeff Flake (R-AZ)
- Ron Johnson (R-WI)
- Amy Klobuchar (D-MN)
- Jack Reed (D-RI)
- Harry Reid (D-NV)
- Dan Sullivan (R-AK)
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Toasting Hillary: A new Donald Trump ad is proof positive that the FBI's "no indictment recommendation" made recently still wasn't a great outcome for the Hillary camp. In fact, it gave the Trump campaign lots of fodder to work with. Watch the ad right here...
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