The White House has asked the Republican-majority Senate to pass the USA Freedom Act that would rein in government surveillance capabilities in its present form.
"It's time for the game-playing to come to an end. And we continue to believe that the best course of action is to pass the bill in its current form, in the form that already passed the United States House of Representatives with the support of 338 Democrats and Republicans," White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest said.
"If they will pass that piece of legislation, then the President will quickly sign it into law and give our law enforcement professionals, once again, tools that they say are critical to their efforts to keep the country safe," Earnest said.
The USA Freedom Act lapsed over the weekend, which essentially took away from security agencies key tools to carry phone and internet surveillance over terrorist suspects, which national security establishment has said is dangerous.
The bill passed by the US House of Representatives, now faces key hurdles in the Senate.
"The administration and certainly the president would view efforts to water down the civil liberties reforms that are included in the House version as contrary to the kinds of values that he's advocated," Earnest said.
"It certainly is not consistent with his view that reforms should be incorporated into these programs to better protect the privacy and civil liberties of the American people," Earnest said in response to a question.
"So what we believe the Senate should do is pass a piece of legislation that appropriately balances the need to protect the country with the need to protect the privacy of the American people. That's what the House bill does. 338 Democrats and Republicans agree," he noted.
Earnest said national security professionals agree that that bipartisan ground was reached by the House.
"The Senate has already done enough to try to spoil that common-sense bipartisan compromise," he said.
"They should just do the bare minimum, pass this bipartisan piece of legislation so the president can sign it into law and our national security professionals can avail themselves of all of the necessary tools to protect the country," the White House Press Secretary said.
