Rubio Supports Bill to Extend Bulk Spying Program After Paris Attack

Republican presidential contender Sen. Marco Rubio is backing a proposed bill to extend until next year the current provisions of the government's bulk phone spying program.

The Florida senator, a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, said the Islamic State (ISIS) attacks in Paris "remind us that no corner of the free world is safe from these savages, and it is our duty to defeat them by any means necessary."

Legislation introduced Tuesday by Arkansas Sen. Tom Cotton would delay the implementation of the USA Freedom Act – passed in June and due to take effect Dec. 1 – that ends the National Security Agency's practice of storing phone records that can be searched during national security investigations, the Weekly Standard notes.

Cotton's proposed bill also would make permanent "lone wolf" and roving wiretap provisions contained in the expiring Patriot Act, Rubio notes.

"I'm joining Senator Cotton's effort because it will provide the intelligence community one more essential tool to help law enforcement connect the dots of terrorist communications, uncover threats against the United States and our allies, and help keep terrorists out of the United States," Rubio said in a statement.

Rubio added the USA Freedom Act has "left our intelligence community with fewer tools to protect the American people," and created "vulnerabilities and gaps in information gathering used to prevent terrorist attacks at home and abroad."

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