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NEWS AND VIEWS THAT IMPACT LIMITED CONSTITUTIONAL GOVERNMENT

"There is danger from all men. The only maxim of a free government ought to be to trust no man living with
power to endanger the public liberty." - - - - John Adams

Monday, February 17, 2014

NSA reform stalls in Congress - The Spy State goes on


Tanks for local police, and our Masters claim they are not building a police state.

The NSA Police State
  • Amazing but not surprising.  Only a small minority of the House and Senate members have signed on to prevent the NSA from collecting bulk records about people’s phone calls.
  • The vast bulk of both Liberals and Conservatives are openly pissing on the Bill of Rights and laughing at us knowing they are invulnerable to defeat because they are backed by a bottomless pit of special interest money.


Legislation to rein in the National Security Agency’s surveillance programs has stalled in the House and Senate.

Only 130 House lawmakers (out of 435) in both parties have signed on as co-sponsors to legislation that would prevent the NSA from collecting bulk records about people’s phone calls. In the Senate, companion legislation has only won 20 co-sponsors out of 100 Senators.

Both bills have been stuck in their chambers’ respective Judiciary Committees since October, and committee aides say there are no plans to move them soon reports The Hill.


In the House, Judiciary Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) claims to be waiting for the Obama administration to take a formal position on the USA Freedom Act, authored by Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wis.), before scheduling a markup.

Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) wants to see what recommendations Attorney General Eric Holder and top intelligence leaders make by a March 28 deadline set by Obama.

Next summer, the portion of the Patriot Act authorizing the NSA’s phone records collection program, known as Section 215, is set to expire. Congress will have to either reauthorize the program as-is, vote to amend it, or let it end entirely.

Last year, Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) nearly succeeded in placing an amendment to defund the NSA’s phone records program on the 2014 defense spending bill. The effort was defeated by just 12 votes on the House floor.

An Amash spokesman did not rule out trying to attach a similar amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act, upcoming appropriations bills or other “must-pass” pieces of legislation.


Constitutional Free Zones




  
 
 
 
 

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