President Obama Warns Senators on Lapse in Surveillance

With time running out, President Barack Obama urged the Senate to pass legislation to renew surveillance programs that are scheduled to expire June 1 or risk endangering the American people.

“The problem we have now is that those authorities run out at midnight on Sunday,” President Obama told reporters as he hosted NATO’s secretary general at the White House. “So I strongly urge the Senate to work through this recess and make sure that they identify a way to get this done.” The president’s plea, though, fell on absent ears. With Congress on recess, the chances of the Senate’s passing the legislation before the deadline are problematic at best even with senators called back for a rare Sunday session. And so the White House faces the prospect that its legal authority to carry out some of these programs will vanish at least for a few days until the political gridlock in the Senate is resolved.