Despite flu, McCaskill plays key role in sending surveillance bill to Trump’s desk

U.S. Claire McCaskill played a key role in helping extend a federal surveillance program for another six years when she broke party lines to help GOP leaders pass the controversial legislation.

McCaskill, a Missouri Democrat, provided the crucial 60th vote Tuesday, allowing the bill to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to escape a filibuster in the Senate.

Despite battling the flu, McCaskill made it to the Senate floor to cast her vote for the legislation, which enables the U.S. government to collect emails and phone records of foreign citizens outside of the United States without a warrant.

The final Senate vote took place Thursday, and the legislation passed by a 65-34 vote. It will now head to President Donald Trump’s desk.

“For Claire, keeping Missourians safe is not a partisan or political issue. She’s a longtime supporter of the FISA program, and has consistently voted to renew it,” McCaskill’s spokeswoman Sarah Feldman said in an email Thursday.

“That support stems from her ongoing work with our national security leaders — including the FBI, Defense Department and Intelligence experts — and her commitment to ensuring they have the tools they need to keep us safe in a way that protects Americans’ rights, regardless of the politics.”

McCaskill was one of 18 Democrats who assisted Republican leaders in passing the bill.

U.S. Sen. Jerry Moran, a Kansas Republican, voted against the bill on Tuesday, telling reporters the following day that he had resisted numerous pleas from other Republicans to change his vote.

“My phone kept ringing. Solicitations kept occurring and I decided it’s better to just go tell them in person,” Moran said. “(U.S. Sen. John) Cornyn asked me and I said, ‘No, I can’t do that.’ And then she (McCaskill) showed up.”

However, Moran did support the bill on its final passage. His office said in a statement Thursday that Moran believed amendments should have been considered to strengthen the legislation, but that he “supported final passage because FISA has been and will continue to be an important tool for our intelligence agencies as they fight to protect Americans.”

U.S. Sens. Roy Blunt of Missouri and Pat Roberts of Kansas, both Republicans, also voted to reauthorize the program.

Critics of the FISA program warn that U.S. citizens’ communication with foreign citizens may incidentally be collected as part of the surveillance.

McCaskill’s role in passing the legislation was harshly criticized by Austin Petersen, a Kansas City man seeking the GOP nomination to challenge McCaskill in the fall. Petersen previously sought the Libertarian nomination for president in 2016.

“I’m deeply dismayed and disappointed in Senator McCaskill’s (and Senator Blunt’s) decision to betray the 4th Amendment... I would have stood for my fellow Americans’ constitutional rights alongside Senators Paul, Lee, Cruz, and others in opposing this legislation without the desperately needed and critical reforms offered in the USA Rights Act,” Petersen said in an email, referencing the handful of Republicans who joined the majority of Democrats in opposing the bill.

Missouri Attorney General Josh Hawley, the GOP frontrunner to face McCaskill, issued a short statement that struck a balance between both sides of the debate.

“I support giving national security officials the tools they need to aggressively fight terrorism and keep Americans safe, but we have to be vigilant in reviewing this practice to avoid unintended consequences that impact the privacy of Americans,” Hawley said.

This story was originally published January 18, 2018 at 3:35 PM with the headline "Despite flu, McCaskill plays key role in sending surveillance bill to Trump’s desk."