"Four years ago, in the midst of the 2008 Democratic presidential primary, an identical version of the bill was the subject of a highly contentious debate in the Senate. Obama and others argued then that Bush's program went too far in violating Americans' privacy. This year, with a supportive Obama in the Oval Office and the media focus on the fiscal cliff, the bill was renewed with much less attention. . . .
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.), the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee warned that even public revelations about the program could have dangerous reverberations."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/1...n_2376039.html