Some provisions of the Patriot Act, including Section 215 which the FISA court has
interpreted to allow the government to collect the phone records of virtually every person in the United States, are up for renewal this spring with a June deadline. Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner (R-WI) pushed hard for
reforms of the program at the end of last year, but their efforts narrowly failed. So they're back at it, and
reportedly are nearing a deal.
According to people involved in the discussions, the plan would largely mirror last year's failed effort to end the NSA's bulk collection of millions of Americans’ phone records. […]
Multiple advocates of NSA reform told The Hill they are optimistic that the latest bill would provide a greater check on U.S. spying powers, nearly two years after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked explosive information about the NSA's activities. […]
Like previous efforts, the new version of the USA Freedom Act would effectively end the metadata program by requiring the NSA to obtain a court order before searching through records held by private phone companies, people involved in the negotiations said.
The plan would reform the secretive court that oversees U.S. intelligence activities by adding a panel that would provide an alternate voice to the government. It would also allow tech and telecom companies to disclose more details about the records they hand over to federal authorities.
Aides who spoke anonymously to The Hill said that its a "stronger" bill than the watered-down bill the House ended up with last year and ends bulk collection. Apparently there's not support in either chamber for them to reauthorize the law unchanged, but that's always subject to change if negotiations drag out right down to the deadline. That's as much as we know for the moment, besides the fact that there's been a
full-court press this week from the NSA and the FBI in classified, secret briefings with Congress to scare them into preserving their massive spying powers.