Article from Reason by Scott Shackford.

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said this morning he will not vote for a year-end continuing resolution to keep federal government going if it permanently reauthorizes federal surveillance regulations without strong protections to shield Americans from snooping.

Paul was one of a bipartisan but small group of senators who gathered at a press conference today with privacy activists from both the left (the American Civil Liberties Union) and the right (FreedomWorks). The coalition hopes to keep lawmakers from quietly renewing surveillance authorities under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) Amendments without any public debate.

“I absolutely oppose permanent reauthorization,” Paul said. “Any reauthorization has to be paired with more oversight, not less.”

On hand alongside Paul were Sens. Mike Lee (R-Utah), Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), Steve Daines (R-Mont.), and Paul’s regular across-the-aisle partner in fighting unwarranted surveillance, Ron Wyden (D-Ore.).

Read the entire article at Reason.

Image Credit: Gage Skidmore [CC BY-SA 3.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons