Late on Thursday, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont introduced legislation to rein in the NSA and the FBI.

His bill is called S. 1168 and it says it is designed "to limit overbroad surveillance requests and expand reporting requirements."

No longer would the NSA or the FBI be able to vacuum up the phone and electronic records of millions of innocent Americans. "Authorities would be required to establish a reasonable suspicion, based on specific information, in order to secure court approval to monitor business records related to a specific terrorism suspect," Sanders's office says.

The bill would also "increase Congressional oversight by requiring the attorney general to provide reports to all members of Congress, not only members of the Judiciary and Intelligence committees," says the Sanders press release.

"We must give our intelligence and law enforcement agencies all of the tools that they need to combat terrorism," said Sanders, "but we must do so in a way that protects our freedom and respects the Constitution's ban on unreasonable searches."

If you liked this story by Matthew Rothschild, the editor of The Progressive magazine, check out his story Why Was This Spying Classified in the First Place?.

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