The resolution was approved by voice vote during the meeting led by Reince Priebus. RNC slams NSA spying programs

The Republican National Committee passed a resolution Friday renouncing “unconstitutional” National Security Agency surveillance programs.

The resolution, affirmed by a voice vote at the GOP’s winter meeting, was a remarkable move from many of the same party activists who vigorously defended controversial surveillance programs during George W. Bush’s administration.


The GOP’s official governing body called upon Republican lawmakers “to immediately take action to halt current unconstitutional surveillance programs and provide a full public accounting of the NSA’s data collection programs.”

A page-long resolution also called for “a special committee to investigate, report, and reveal to the public the extent of this domestic spying.” This committee would then make suggestions for reform beyond what President Barack Obama suggested a week ago. The committee also wants to “hold accountable those public officials who are found to be responsible for this unconstitutional surveillance.”

Sponsors of the measure worry that the program called PRISM targets U.S. citizens and suggest that the NSA is leading “the largest surveillance effort ever launched by a democratic government against its own citizens.”

The push to criticize the NSA was spearheaded by Nevada national committeewoman Diana Orrock, a supporter of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.).

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