White House Uses Situation Room to Lobby for NSA Bill

“The White House held threat briefings for key senators Thursday in its secure Situation Room as part of a lobbying effort to pass a bill preventing anti-terror spy programs from expiring June 1,” Bloomberg reports.

Sen. Richard Burr (R-NC) “portrayed the briefings as a sign that there aren’t enough votes for passage. Burr and other senators were working on fallback plans should the bill fail, as provisions of the USA Patriot Act will expire June 1 if Congress doesn’t act.”

Said Burr: “I don’t think anybody should be rooting for this to all go away. Clearly with the hard press that’s on between the administration and taking people to the White House Situation Room, they don’t have the votes right now for the USA Freedom Act.”