House votes to renew NSA spying, rejects reform push
In a victory for the Trump administration, the House on Thursday approved legislation to renew government surveillance powers while voting down new limits on how authorities can use the information that is collected.
Just a few hours before the vote, President Trump roiled the waters by sending out a tweet that appeared to contradict his own administration’s opposition to the changes, which were offered by Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.).
That amendment failed by a vote of 233-183.
“ 'House votes on controversial FISA ACT today.' This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others?” Trump tweeted.
The White House had said it supported the underlying surveillance bill but strongly opposed Amash’s amendment.
Trump later clarified that he “has personally directed the fix to the unmasking process since taking office and today’s vote is about foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land.”
After rejecting Amash’s amendment, the House passed an underlying bill backed by members of the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees that renewed the NSA’s warrantless surveillance program with just a few small changes.
The bill, passed by a vote of 256-164, now heads to the Senate, which is expected to swiftly take up and pass the measure before the surveillance program expires on Jan. 19.
http://thehill.com/homenews/house/368490-house-rejects-new-limits-on-government-surveillance-powers
