WASHINGTON, D.C. — An amendment endorsed by U.S. Rep. Justin Amash to prevent intelligence agencies from conducting "backdoor" searches of communications data easily passed the House late Thursday.

Heralded as the next big step to restrain the National Security Agency's domestic spying programs, the proposal bars the federal government from performing database searches on U.S. citizens without a warrant. It, too, cuts funding for the CIA and the NSA to install security vulnerabilities in tech products for surveillance, according to The Hill.

It was passed as an amendment to the 2015 Defense appropriations bill by a bipartisan, 293-123 vote.

Amash, R-Cascade Township, earlier spearheaded a pitch to fellow legislators to support a version of the "USA Freedom Act" that would curb the NSA's communication sweeps altogether. The House weakened the bill before it passed in May, even removing the provision that was restored Thursday night by this newest amendment.

Many of the original supporters of the bill, including Amash, voted "no" because it didn't move closer toward eliminating the NSA's domestic programs completely, he explained.

"We wanted another vote on it (while) the intelligence committee and leadership came out against it," said Amash spokesman, Will Adams.

If this amendment were to be signed into law, Americans would have a better sense of privacy knowing the government couldn't go in some roundabout method to peer into their communications' data, Adams said.

He explained that the law specifically targets foreign persons, but citizens' data inevitably becomes intercepted as well.

"The takeaway is that members of Congress are clued in on this issue," Adams said.

NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden recently revealed in documents that, in addition to other revelations, the NSA "routinely receives — or intercepts — routers, servers and other computer network devices" to insert tools that allow researchers to access the device remotely, all under the guise of a factory seal, according to The Guardian.

Such products, however, were designated for international customers but apparently allows the NSA to intercept all its traffic, regardless of origin.

Andrew Krietz covers breaking, politics and transportation news for MLive | The Grand Rapids Press. Email him at akrietz@mlive.com or follow him on Twitter.