Sen. Jon Tester (D-Mont.) bucked his party's leadership and called on his colleagues to vote down a bill that would renew provisions of the Patriot Act.

"Today we have an opportunity to do away with a law that tramples on Americans' constitutional rights," Tester said. "The Patriot Act flies in the face of the Fourth Amendment and it allows the government to hold secret proceedings even when the proceedings don't need to be held in secret." 

The Patriot Act renewal legislation, which will see a cloture vote in the Senate this week, would extend the ability of U.S. intelligence authorities to conduct roving wiretaps, gain access to business records and survey "lone-wolf" operators, authorities that expire at the end of this week.

The Senate majority leader harshly criticized Newt Gingrich for shifting his rhetoric on the House-passed Republican budget.

Sens. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) this week will seek to modify a House-Senate agreement that would extend three expiring Patriot Act surveillance authorities by including more government oversight of these authorities and sunsetting the use of national security letters (NSL) as a basis for justifying intelligence gathering.

Leahy and Paul on Monday announced their amendment to S. 1038, on which the Senate is expected to hold a cloture vote Monday evening. The bill reflects the House-Senate agreement to extend the three authorities until June 1, 2015, without any additional conditions placed on these techniques.

Reid ripped the GOP budget for its proposed reforms to Medicare, which Democrats for weeks have been criticizing.

Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul on Monday called on Republicans to refuse demands to raise the national debt ceiling later this summer, and said a decision to raise it again would mean that the "status quo has prevailed."

"If the new Republican majority in the House of Representatives gives in to establishment pressure by voting to increase the debt ceiling once again, you will know that the status quo has prevailed," Paul said. "You will know that the simple notion of balancing the budget, by limiting federal spending to federal revenue, remains a shallow and laughable campaign platitude."

Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) said in a speech on Saturday that America is becoming a "national-security state" since the 9/11 attacks.

"It's really hard to recognize America today from what it was before 9/11," Kucinich said Saturday in Woodinville, Wash. "We have seen the beginning of a national-security state."

Senate Homeland Security and Government Affairs Committee Chairman Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.) on Monday said he expects relatively smooth passage of a bill to extend three expiring surveillance authorities under the Patriot Act.

"As I understand it, there's been a leadership agreement, which I certainly support, to adopt a so-called clean bill on the three provisions that are running out at the end of this week, which are very important to our national security and the war on terrorism," he said after a hearing Monday.

Democratic Rep. Sandy Levin has criticized the bill as something that would "end the guarantee of federal unemployment insurance."

The world didn't end, which makes us even more comfortable in our prediction that the House and Senate will both return at 2 p.m. Monday.

The Senate on Monday evening is planning a cloture vote on S. 1038, which would extend Patriot Act surveillance authorities until June 1, 2015. That bill reflects a deal worked out late last week between House and Senate leaders on these surveillance techniques, which expire this Friday.

When the House returns, it will take up five non-controversial bills under a suspension of House rules. Four of these are related to veterans, while the fifth extends funding for the Airport and Airway Trust Fund, details here.