Dr. Eggman writes "Ars Technica brings us the latests in Congressional proceedings, in reguards to granting the Telecommunications Industry retroactive immunity for their dealings with the NSA and spying on Americans. A Republican cloture motion, which would have blocked any further attempts to remove the retroactive immunity, has failed. The controverisal portion of the Senate intelligence committee surveillance bill may now be examined in full debate. At the same time, a second cloture motion — filed by Congressional Democrats in an effort to force immediate vote on a 30 day extension to the Protect America Act — also failed to pass. The Protect America Act has been criticized for broadly expanded federal surveillance power while diminishing judicial oversight. While the failure of this second closture motion means the Protect America Act may very well expire, a vote tommorrow on a similar motion in the house will not doubt bring the issue back into the Senate in time. It seems, according to the article, that both parties feel that imminent expiration of the Protect America Act is a disaster for intelligence gathering, yet both sides blame the other as progress grinds to a halt. It seems partisan politics have prevented the congress from doing anything and although some may point out that this stops them from helping us, others just as easily point out that this stops them from hurting us, too."
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