Surveillance. During consideration of the Defense Appropriations bill, Representative Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced an amendment to prevent defense funds from being used to allow U.S. intelligence agencies to sift through electronic metadata that contains the personal information of U.S. citizens or legal residents. Massie\’s amendment would also prohibit funds from being used by the NSA for \”backdoor\” surveillance – requiring or requesting the redesign of a product to facilitate the electronic surveillance of a person who uses it.
As Massie said during debate on his amendment, \”The American people are sick of being spied on. Our Founding Fathers wrote an important provision into the Bill of Rights – the Fourth Amendment – and that requires probable cause and a warrant before the government and government agents can snoop on any American.\”
The House adopted Massie\’s amendment on June 19, 2014 by a vote of 293-123 (Roll Call 327). We have assigned pluses to the yeas because Massie\’s amendment seeks to uphold the Constitution and its protection of privacy rights. Any attempt to curtail the surveillance state and restore constitutional protections to Americans is good.
