Kristin Beck, Sally Jewell

Kristin Beck, a former United States Navy SEAL, left, talks with Interior Secretary Sally Jewell inside the Washington Monument in Washington, Monday, May 12, 2014, looking toward the Capitol.

(AP Photo)

U.S. Rep. Justin Amash, R-Cascade Township

GRAND RAPIDS, MI — U.S. Rep. Justin Amash doesn't plan to stop the fight against the National Security Agency and its domestic surveillance programs because it matters to the people of Michigan's 3rd District, he says.

Amash, R-Cascade Township, and more than 140 fellow cosponsors struck a blow toward the end of May when the U.S. House amended the "USA Freedom Act," a bill designed to restrain the NSA's communication sweeps. In Amash's words, it was gutted in committee.

The bill passed the House, 303 to 121, with Amash joining many cosponsors to vote "no."

It since has been criticized by numerous Internet companies, plus the privacy-minded Electronic Frontier Foundation, for failing to achieve the goal of ending the surveillance programs it once was intended to do.

"We had bipartisan consensus on where we wanted to go with it. The White House said they were on board, the intelligence committee said they were on board," Amash explained, "and two days before the vote, the White House and the intelligence committee said, 'No, no no, we don't want it this way.'"

The amended version didn't sit will with Amash, and he took to Facebook to explain why a vote against the bill wasn't a condemnation of past efforts. Continued support for the bill in its final version would not get the country closer to its overall goal, the congressman claimed. It also extended the provisions of the 2001 Patriot Act through 2017.

Now it's back to the drawing board.

Amash said he's working with Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and other colleagues to draft a package of amendments to restore the protections removed from the Freedom Act. He's targeting the Department of Defense appropriations bill — annually-produced law to specify the budget of the U.S. Department of Defense — to attach those amendments, mirroring actions taken last summer with his push of the Amash Amendment.

NSA spying: Rep. Justin Amash renews effort to gut controversial surveillance tactics

And if that's any indication of things to come, the package might again come close to passing. The amendment failed the House last summer by a close 217-205 vote.

"I didn't view (the Freedom Act) as a step forward," Amash said.

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.