Justin Amash Amendment To Stop NSA Data Collection Voted Down In House

Members of the House of Representatives engaged in a heated debate Wednesday over an amendment from Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) to halt the National Security Agency's bulk collection of phone record data. "We're here today for a very simple reason: to defend the Fourth Amendment, to defend the privacy of each and every American," Amash said as he introduced his measure. Lawmakers' votes, he said, would answer one simple question, "Do we oppose the suspicionless collection of every American's phone records?" Apparently, the answer was no. The House voted 217-205 to defeat the amendment Wednesday evening. Amash's measure, offered as an amendment to the Department of Defense appropriations bill, would have prevented the government from invoking Section 215 of the Patriot Act to scoop up phone call metadata -- information about whom people are calling and when, but not the content of the calls -- unless the government had a reasonable suspicion that a specific target was involved in terrorism. Co-sponsored by liberals including Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the amendment represents the first time either chamber of Congress has weighed in on the revelations of NSA leaker Edward Snowden. Amash warned that "opponents of this amendment will use the same tactic that every government throughout history has used to justify its violation of rights: fear." And the measure's foes -- even those within his own party -- did not disappoint...more