WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Senator Angus King (I-Maine), a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, released the following statement today after voting in favor of final passage of the USA Freedom Act:

“Although I would have preferred that the Senate strengthen the bill even further by adopting provisions to give our government greater confidence that the new program will be fully effective, allowing this program to lapse for longer or expire altogether would be irresponsible,” Senator King said. “I believe it’s vital that we transition this program from the government to the private sector and renew these authorities so that our law enforcement and intelligence officials have the critical tools they need to fight terrorism.”

The USA FREEDOM Act bans bulk collection of call detail records and instead requires the government to apply to the FISA Court for an order to retrieve this information from the telecommunications carriers.  Senator King has been a strong and longstanding proponent of taking the program out of the hands of the government and keeping the records, which include telephone numbers – and not the content of such calls – with the private companies.  However, the telecommunications industry has been clear that they will not commit to voluntarily retaining these records for any particular period of time. 

In response, Senator King supported an amendment today that would have required such companies to notify the Attorney General if they decide to retain the call records for less than 18 months, which is the amount of time that U.S. officials have indicated is needed to conduct most international terrorism or foreign intelligence investigations. While the amendment was included in a package of amendments offered on the floor by the Senate Majority Leader, it ultimately was not adopted by a vote of 43-56.

However, Senator King still supported the USA Freedom Act because it includes important authorities used by U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies to investigate and prevent acts of terrorism. The Senate passed the bill today by a vote of 67 to 32 and it now goes to the President for his signature to become law.

Yesterday, Senator King spoke on the floor of the Senate regarding the USA Freedom Act. His remarks can be seen HERE.

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