House Fails to Pass Amendment to End NSA’s Blanket Electronic Surveillance

Congressman Kenny Marchant (TX-24) voted today in favor of an amendment to the Fiscal Year 2014 Department of Defense Appropriations Act sponsored by Congressman Justin Amash (MI-03). This amendment would have protected the privacies constitutionally-guaranteed in the Fourth Amendment by restricting the National Security Agency’s (NSA’s) ability to conduct blanket electronic surveillance of the American people. Congressman Marchant issued the following statement upon its failure to be adopted into the final bill:

“This well-intentioned reform would have taken major steps to protect law-abiding American citizens from the NSA’s overly invasive electronic surveillance. There are many other ways we can successfully fight terrorism without forcing the American people to sacrifice their individual liberties. The rights of the American people should not continue to be infringed upon by the NSA’s blanket collection of electronic records.”