Congress takes up measures on detainee treatment, Keystone XL Pipeline, tax payroll cuts

The House of Representatives took up the controversial National Defense Authorization Act today. The bill was revised after President Barack Obama threatened to veto a previous Senate version. But the language in this new bill still has civil liberties advocates concerned. Florida Democrat Alcee Hastings.

“With this legislation we are undermining over 200 years of Constitutional protections. We are returning American society to an age when an all-powerful executive can command unaccountable power over people’s lives. To codify in law the power of the president to indefinitely detain American citizens without charge or trial is an egregious affront to our nation’s system of justice.”

Meanwhile, the House passed a bill Monday evening that temporarily extends both unemployment benefits and the payroll tax cut, but includes environmental and economic provisions that has the Senate and President Obama threatening to block it. FSRN’s Alice Ollstein reports from Capitol Hill.