Tomorrow night, most of the highly controversial US PATRIOT Act is set to finally expire after being renewed in 2011 by President Obama. However, unlike the last time, the world now knows the full extent of the programs the bill allowed for, provided by Edward Snowden in 2013.
Currently, the prospects for a renewal of the bill look bad. Desperate to keep the act going for another 4 years, President Obama pled to Congress in the name of "National Security". However, given that Obama's approval ratings are at historical lows in both parties, his voice on the matter is unlikely to hold much weight.
Many Republican hawks tried to enact a modified, only slightly better version of the bill called the FREEDOM Act; however, this bill failed to garner enough votes to pass.
The legislators mostly responsible for fighting the aged PATRIOT Act, passed in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, are led by Senator Rand Paul, the leader of the Libertarian wing of the Republican Party and the son of former Congressman Ron Paul. He is also running for president in 2016.
Paul and his followers have shown no willingness to compromise and oppose both the PATRIOT and FREEDOM Acts. He has stated that he wants a complete end to the NSA and government spying programs, opting for more old-fashioned methods to catch criminals and terrorists.
Hopefully, all goes well and the PATRIOT Act expires as planned. The director of the FBI recently stated that the bill has failed to catch any terrorists and has been frequently abused. Rand Paul and his followers have also defeated most of the heaviest hitters supporting the bill, including fellow Republican Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell, whom like Republican House of Representative majority leader John Boehner, is largely considered to be a personal lapdog for Obama.
Fellow DNM community members, let's hope that tomorrow is finally the end of the dreaded act, which has been confirmed to have been used against average criminals that had no terror links at all.
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