McConnell Cites Friendship With Ryan Telecom-Savvy Staffer, May Dig Into Encryption Next Year

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., sees longtime kinship with ex-telecom industry lobbyist David Hoppe, hired this fall as chief of staff to new House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis. Hoppe had worked for telecom and media heavyweights throughout the past decade and was seen as especially familiar with the Senate and McConnell’s chief staffer (see 1511060043). “Paul’s been around a long time,” McConnell said Tuesday during an event hosted by Politico. “He’s a pretty young guy but he’s been around a long time. … He hired a guy that I was thoroughly familiar with, longtime friend Dave Hoppe. We knew each other well, so we didn’t have to start from scratch.” McConnell called the transition to the Ryan speakership “quite smooth.” McConnell also said he hasn’t made up his mind on when the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a wide-ranging trade deal that includes telecom and tech provisions, would come to the Senate floor. Ryan is “still scrubbing” the deal, he said at the event. “I don’t have a set date in my mind [for floor consideration].” McConnell is “disappointed at the outcome” of the trade deal, which could be better, he said. McConnell, considered a national security hawk, also sees potential for tackling encryption in the Senate in 2016. “The encryption issue is another reason for revisiting that whole subject, and that could happen next year,” McConnell said. He called the issue “a growing and serious problem” given international events and called Sen. Tom Cotton, R-Ark., an Intelligence Committee member, “a leader” on this front. He also mentioned the interest from Senate Intelligence Committee Chairman Richard Burr, R-N.C., who may be preparing bipartisan encryption legislation for next year (see 1512090062). McConnell opposed the USA Freedom Act surveillance overhaul earlier this year, and Tuesday emphasized his objections. “Weakening the Patriot Act is a mistake,” McConnell said. “The metadata system was lost in the bill we passed in early summer. I didn’t vote for it.”