General Discussion
In reply to the discussion: Jimmy Carter issues statement on Snowden. "America no longer has a functioning democracy" [View all]JDPriestly
(57,936 posts)today. In it, Sensenbrenner, who wrote the Patriot Act states that this program is not authorized by Section 215 of that Act. Sensenbrenner, I repeat, wrote the Patriot Act and said that his program is not authorized by it, and that it is doing something that has never been done and was not contemplated under the Patriot Act. Sensenbrenner also warns that the statutory provision that the NSA claims to be relying on in this program will not be renewed unless the program is changed because there are not enough votes in Congress to support it.
Watch the two videos from today's hearing. This program is so obviously illegal and unconstitutional that it cannot survive.
Members of Congress definitely don't want the NSA (and thus, the administration) to obtain their metadata. After all, a Congressmember's metadata is a roadmap to his/her donor base.
So. No. Congress is not going to vote to allow the NSA to get this kind of personal information about themselves.
How could any president think that it would.