U.S. lawmakers may very well be one step closer to bringing across-the-board U.S. government phone surveillance to an end.
The House of Representatives is expected to vote Wednesday on an amendment to next year’s defense appropriations bill that would defund the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of people’s phone metadata not under investigation for international terrorism or foreign intelligence.
According to the revised amendment’s summary available on the House Rules Committee website, the amendment “bars authority for the blanket collection of records under the Patriot Act.”
It further “bars the NSA and other agencies from using Section 215 of the Patriot Act to collect records, including telephone call records, that pertain to persons who are not subject to an investigation under Section 215,” continues the summary.
The broad scope of the NSA’s surveillance, enabled by Section 215, was first revealed in early June by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.
Since the revelations were first made public, the secretive agency has been the subject of global controversy.
The amendment was first proposed by Michigan Republican Rep. Justin Amash, a fierce civil libertarian and opponent of U.S. agencies engaged in unconstitutional warrantless surveillance.
Republican Reps. Mick Mulvaney of South Carolina and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, and Democratic Reps. John Conyers of Michigan and Jared Polis of Colorado, are also co-sponsors of the Amash amendment.
The House Rules Committee departed from normal procedure to solicit amendments in written form as part of an attempt to limit what would be attached to the bill.
Senior officials from the U.S. intelligence committee have pushed back hard against allegations that the collection program violates the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution, which guards against unreasonable searches and seizures.
Congressional leaders, concerned over the effect Amash’s amendment could have on the effectiveness of the surveillance programs, delayed a vote on the defense bill until this week.
NSA director, General Keith Alexander, headed to Capitol Hill Tuesday afternoon for a “members-only briefing set up by the House Intelligence Committee” to lobby against Amash’s amendment, reports The Hill.
U.S. activists, organized by the digital advocacy group Demand Progress, rallied online Tuesday to petition their representatives to support Amash’s amendment.
VOTE - PARTY -STATE- NAME
Not Voting - Republican - CA - John Campbell III
Not Voting - Republican - IL - Aaron Schock
Not Voting - Republican - IN - Todd Rokita
Not Voting - Republican - NC - Howard Coble
Not Voting - Republican - PA - Lou Barletta
Not Voting - Republican - WA - Jaime Herrera Beutler
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Not Voting - Democrat - CA - Gloria Negrete McLeod
Not Voting - Democrat - IL - Cheri Bustos
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Not Voting - Democrat - NV - Steven Horsford
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Aye - Republican - OH - Steve Chabot
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Aye - Republican - OK - Markwayne Mullin
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Aye - Republican - PA - Keith Rothfus
Aye - Republican - PA - Glenn Thompson
Aye - Republican - SC - Trey Gowdy
Aye - Republican - SC - Tom Rice
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Aye - Republican - SC - Marshall Mark Sanford
Aye - Republican - SC - Joe Wilson
Aye - Republican - SC - Jeff Duncan
Aye - Republican - TN - Stephen Fincher
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Aye - Republican - UT - Rob Bishop
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Aye - Republican - WI - Thomas Tom Petri
Aye - Republican - WI - Sean Duffy
Aye - Republican - WI - Reid Ribble
Aye - Republican - WI - James Sensenbrenner Jr.
Aye - Republican - WY - Cynthia Lummis
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Aye - Democrat - CA - Xavier Becerra
Aye - Democrat - CA - Tony Cardenas
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Aye - Democrat - CA - Lucille Roybal-Allard
Aye - Democrat - CA - Loretta Sanchez
Aye - Democrat - CA - Lois Capps
Aye - Democrat - CA - Linda Sanchez
Aye - Democrat - CA - Karen Bass
Aye - Democrat - CA - Judy Chu
Aye - Democrat - CA - John Garamendi
Aye - Democrat - CA - Jared Huffman
Aye - Democrat - CA - Janice Hahn
Aye - Democrat - CA - Jackie Speier
Aye - Democrat - CA - Henry Waxman
Aye - Democrat - CA - Grace Napolitano
Aye - Democrat - CA - George Miller
Aye - Democrat - CA - Eric Swalwell
Aye - Democrat - CA - Doris Matsui
Aye - Democrat - CA - Brad Sherman
Aye - Democrat - CA - Barbara Lee
Aye - Democrat - CA - Anna Eshoo
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Aye - Democrat - CA - Adam Schiff
Aye - Democrat - CO - Jared Polis
Aye - Democrat - CO - Ed Perlmutter
Aye - Democrat - CO - Diana DeGette
Aye - Democrat - CT - Rosa DeLauro
Aye - Democrat - CT - John Larson
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Aye - Democrat - FL - Theodore Deutch
Aye - Democrat - FL - Alcee Hastings
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Aye - Democrat - HI - Tulsi Gabbard
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