Republicans and Democrats found common ground on the secretive National Security Agency and passed a bill in the House aimed at scaling back the government’s surveillance powers.
Lawmakers voted to add an amendment on the defense appropriations bill that curbs the NSA’s ability to collect data on Americans’ telephone calls and correspondences, The Associated Press reported.
Specifically, it prohibits any warrantless collection of personal information that’s passed among Americans online, and denies the NSA and CIA any access into data that comes from commercial tech sources, including telephones, AP said.
“The American people are sick of being spied on,” one bill supporter said.
Meanwhile, House lawmakers also sent over to the Senate another provision that would block President Obama from closing down Guantanamo Bay and restrict his ability to transfer prisoners absent legislative oversight.
• Cheryl K. Chumley can be reached at cchumley@washingtontimes.com.
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