WASHINGTON— The revelations this week of broad government spying on U.S. citizens have at least been able to foster something Washington hasn't seen in a long time: bipartisanship.

Dual exposés — one from The Guardian that the National Security Agency has been collecting millions of phone records from Verizon customers and a second from the Washington Post that the NSA has a secret program dubbed PRISM to mine information from major internet companies — have brought together some of Congress' steadiest conservatives and most progressive liberals.

A new breed of conservatives in the House and Senate, unattached to Bush-era policies and keenly aware of the ascendant libertarian strand of the GOP, are joining long-time Democratic critics in their outrage over the NSA programs.

"There will be bipartisan criticism but unfortunately there will also be bipartisan defense," said Rep. Zoe Lofgren, a California Democrat who joined more than a dozen conservatives in signing a letter to the FBI and NSA questioning the programs. . "How the numbers add up on each side of the equation we'll wait and see."

Lofgren pointed to the statements made by Senate Intellegence Committee chairwoman Dianne Feinstein and ranking member Saxby Chambliss.

The pair defended the phone records program on Thursday as an essential tool for collecting information on suspected terrorists that had been going for years.

"It is proved meritorious, because we have gathered significant information on bad guys, but only on bad guys, over the years," Chambliss said.

The letter Lofgren signed was circulated by Rep. Justin Amash, a Michigan Republican who has taken up the libertarian mantel former Rep. Ron Paul held in the House.

Other co-signers included Rep. Raul Labrador, Tim Huelskamp, Trey Radel, Thomas Massie, Jim Bridenstine — a younger set of Republicans whose names you don't often see tied to Democratic ones on other issues.

"You'll find a lot of names of people who were recently elected," Amash said. "We're not tied to the Bush administrations policies, which were also wrong. We are a reflection of what grassroots Republicans believe."

Amash said he was stunned to hear Republican and Democratic Senators defend the program.

"Maybe too much time in DC has left them totally oblivious to what's right and wrong," he said.

On Twitter the bipartisanship was on display: Amash got support from Hawaii Rep. Tulsi Gabbard.