In a bit of good news, The Hill is reporting that U.S. House of Representatives members are pressing Speaker of the House John Boehner to allow a vote on reining in the NSA. If the members don’t get their vote, they are threatening to attach the bill as an amendment to “must-pass legislation.”
Although Boehner generally supports the NSA, the members have him boxed in and it looks as if the House might see some action. The bill, the USA Freedom Act, was filed by Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, who, significantly, was one of the authors of the Patriot Act upon which the NSA relies for authority to conduct mass surveillance on Americans.
In July, the House narrowly defeated a bill by Rep. Justin Amash that would have halted the NSA’s mass phone call metadata collection. Despite the opposition of the House leadership and heavy lobbying by the administration, Amash’s bill was defeated by only 7 votes and many members who voted against it are now ready to support Sensenbrenner’s bill.
Meanwhile in the Senate, Judiciary Committee chairman Senator Patrick Leahy is offering his own version of the Freedom Act as an alternative to Senator Feinstein’s “business as usual” bill that supports the NSA’s activities. As I wrote recently, Feinstein’s bill has been voted out of the Senate Intelligence Committee so it’s unclear what will happen. Now would be a good time to let your Congressmen know that you support efforts to put an end to the NSA’s extra-constitutional spying on Americans.