House to Debate Limiting NSA After Snowden Disclosure

By Timothy R. Homan - Jul 24, 2013

The fallout from Edward Snowden’s disclosures of top-secret surveillance programs is reaching the floor of the U.S. House through debate over proposals to restrict the National Security Agency.

The discussion, to be limited to 30 minutes as soon as today, is being pushed by Representative Justin Amash, a Michigan Republican. His proposal to limit the NSA’s use of funds to collect data on telephone calls made by U.S. citizens is opposed by House leaders and the Obama administration.

Amash has proposed an amendment to the annual Defense Department spending measure, H.R. 2397, that would prohibit intelligence agencies from collecting phone records unless a Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court order stipulates that the records pertain to an individual under investigation. That would put an end to the NSA’s blanket collection of metadata on calls, such as telephone numbers and duration.

“All we need to do is debate a simple question: Should we fund the NSA’s potential collection of the personal data of Americans?” Amash said July 22 in testimony before the House Rules Committee, which voted to permit floor consideration of his amendment and one other targeting the NSA.

The push by some House members to place limits on the NSA led the head of the agency, General Keith Alexander, to schedule two briefings on surveillance programs for lawmakers yesterday on short notice. The NSA has said that while it gathers information on all U.S. phone calls to have it at hand, it accesses the data only when needed for terrorism investigations.

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http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-07-23/house-to-debate-limiting-nsa-after-snowden-disclosure.html