[Infowarrior] - House forces vote on amendment that would limit NSA bulk surveillance

[Richard Forno]

House forces vote on amendment that would limit NSA bulk surveillance

Opposition to bulk surveillance swells with vote that would 'end authority for blanket collection of records under the Patriot Act'

	• Spencer Ackerman in Washington
	• guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 23 July 2013 15.26 EDT

Congressional opposition to the NSA's bulk surveillance on Americans swelled on Tuesday as the US House prepared to vote on restricting the collection of US phone records and a leading Senate critic blasted a "culture of misinformation" around government surveillance.

Republican congressman Justin Amash prevailed in securing a vote for his amendment to a crucial funding bill for the Department of Defense that "ends authority for the blanket collection of records under the Patriot Act." The vote could take place as early as Wednesday evening.

"The people have spoken through their representatives," Amash told the Guardian on Tuesday. "This is an opportunity to vote on something that will substantially limit the ability of the NSA to collect their phone records without suspicion."

It will be the first such vote held by Congress on restricting NSA surveillance after the revelations from ex-contractor Edward Snowden, published in the Guardian and the Washington Post, that detailed a fuller picture of the surveillance authorities than officials had publicly disclosed – something blasted in a fiery Tuesday speech by Senator Ron Wyden, a prominent Democratic critic of the surveillance programs.

In a sign of how crucial the NSA considers its bulk phone records collection, which a secret surveillance court reapproved on Friday, its director, General Keith Alexander, held a four-hour classified briefing with members of Congress. Alexander's meeting was listed as "top-secret" and divided into two two-hour sessions, the first for Republicans and the second for Democrats. Staffers for the legislators were not permitted to attend.

Amash, who attended the briefing, described it as cordial but declined to give specifics about what was discussed. "I don't believe anyone's mind was changed one way or the other," he said.

Representatives for Alexander did not respond to a request for comment.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/23/house-amendment-nsa-bulk-surveillance