White House defeats NSA surveillance ban
The proposal, tabled in an amendment last night, was defeated by just 12 votes after an impassioned debate on the floor of the House of Representatives.
The amendment was the first serious attempt in Congress to curb the powers of the National Security Agency (NSA) following leaks by the security contractor Edward Snowden.
The White House had reacted strongly against the amendment from Justin Amash, a libertarian Republican from Michigan, and co-sponsored by a Democrat warning in a statement that it would "dismantle one of our Intelligence Community's counterterrorism tools".
The White House stance reflected the fact that the measure had significant support from both Left and Right, forcing the administration to launched a fierce lobbying campaign against the proposal that would end "authority for the blanket collection of records" under the Patriot Act.
The NSA and the White House have argued the ability to data-mine phone records plays a vital role in US national security, sending Gen Keith Alexander, the NSA's head, to give a series of classified briefings on Capitol Hill on Tuesday night to urge Congress to reject the Amash measure.
Comments
There are 0 comments on this post
