Democrats and Republicans in the House linked arms Wednesday and voted to cancel the NSA’s phone-snooping program and end all bulk data collection, approving a rewrite of the Patriot Act just weeks before the law’s key provisions are due to expire.
The 338-88 vote sends the bill to the Senate, where the issue is far more divisive, and where Republican leaders are defending the existing Patriot Act, trying to create an all-or-nothing choice that could force a full extension ahead of the June 1 deadline.
In the House, however, bipartisanship reigned as lawmakers said it was time to dismantle some of the surveillance programs run by both the Bush and Obama administrations — and the National Security Agency’s phone-snooping program in particular.
Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Wisconsin Republican and author of the original Patriot Act, said the law was never intended to be used to justify massive collection and storage of Americans’ information, and he blamed overzealous lawyers for distorting the law to justify the NSA program.
“This program is illegal and based on a blatant misinterpretation of the law,” he said.
The rewrite bill, dubbed the USA Freedom Act, would still allow the government to demand companies turn over data on specific targets of terrorism investigations, but they would not be able to gather broad swaths of data. In an effort to head off legal trickery, the bill also prevents the intelligence community from justifying bulk collection under a different part of law other than the Patriot Act.
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