House majority leader to Senate: Just send our Patriot Act rewrite to Obama

House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy told the Senate Monday to swiftly take up and pass a bipartisan rewrite of the Patriot Act that extends major snooping powers while curtailing its controversial record-collection provision, saying he has a “real concern for the safety of the U.S.” after persistent roadblocks in the upper chamber allowed key anti-terror tools to expire.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had blocked the bill’s passage two weeks ago, but staring last night’s deadline he reversed course on Sunday and tried to quickly amend and pass the bill. But he’d left too little time and Sen. Rand Paul, who questions the broader Patriot Act, used his senator’s pr