House passes bill to end NSA's mass collection of Americans' phone data

Erin Kelly | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The House voted overwhelmingly Wednesday to end the National Security Agency's mass collection of phone records from millions of Americans with no ties to terrorism.

The 338-88 vote to approve the bipartisan USA Freedom Act was an effort by lawmakers to rein in NSA surveillance while renewing key sections of the sweeping Patriot Act anti-terrorism law through 2019.

"As we speak, thousands -- no millions -- of telephone metadata records are flowing into the NSA on a daily basis," said House Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., as he urged support for the bill. "Twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. (It) will not cease...until Congress acts to shut it down."

The vote came less than a week after the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the NSA's mass phone data collection program is illegal and goes beyond what Congress intended when it passed the Patriot Act after 9/11.

The NSA has been using Section 215 of the Patriot Act as the basis for the bulk collection of phone metadata, which includes information about what phone numbers Americans call, when those calls are made, and how long the calls last. The data does not include the actual substance of the calls.

Major provisions of the Patriot Act, including Section 215, are set to expire on June 1 and critics of the NSA program are using that deadline as an opportunity to end what Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., called "dragnet surveillance in the United States."

The USA Freedom Act's fate is uncertain in the Senate, where it is not clear if Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., will allow the House-approved bill to come to a vote. McConnell has introduced his own bill to renew the NSA surveillance program and other key Patriot Act provisions without any changes.

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes, R-Calif., said he, like McConnell, would prefer to keep the NSA's surveillance powers as they are.

"As threats to Americans at home and abroad increase by the day, now is not the time to be weakening our national security, with all the tragic consequences that may follow," Nunes said. However, he said he decided to vote for the bill in part because it would close a loophole in current law that forces the government to stop monitoring the communications of foreign terrorists, including members of the Islamic State.

Other members, including Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., said the legislation does not go far enough to stop mass surveillance of Americans.

"It's true that (the bill) ends the phone dragnet as we currently know it...but it actually expands the statutory basis for the large-scale collection of most data," Amash said. "It does this by authorizing the government to order the production of records based upon a 'specific selection term' like a search term used in a search engine."

The bill is supported by the White House and a coalition of advocacy groups representing the tech industry. Revelations by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden in 2013 about the NSA's mass surveillance program have damaged the ability of U.S. tech companies to convince customers that they will not be spied upon by the U.S. government if they buy American products and services linked to the Internet.

"Meaningful surveillance reform is vital to rebuilding the essential element of trust not only in the technology sector but also in the U.S. government," said a letter to House leaders by the Information Technology Industry Council and other groups.

Attorney General Loretta Lynch and Director of National Intelligence James Clapper sent a letter to House and Senate leaders this week supporting the USA Freedom Act.

"The significant reforms contained in this legislation will provide the public greater confidence in how our intelligence activities are carried out and in the oversight of those activities, while ensuring vital national security authorities remain in place," the letter said.

It appears increasingly likely that McConnell will seek a short-term extension of the existing Patriot Act surveillance powers to give the Senate more time to debate the issue before the law expires.

Senate Foreign Relations Committee Chairman Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said Wednesday he was shocked to learn this week how little data the NSA is actually amassing as it collects Americans' phone records.

"It's beyond belief how little data is part of this program, especially if the goal is to uncover terrorists," Corker said at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. Corker said he learned about the extent of the data collection at a closed-door briefing provided to senators by national security officials Tuesday.

But Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., a lead sponsor of the USA Freedom Act in the Senate, said he was more convinced than ever after the briefing that the USA Freedom Act must pass.

"The (bill) is a reasonable compromise," Leahy said. "It has the support of everyone from technology companies to the National Rifle Association...The Senate should take up and pass the USA Freedom Act without delay."

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