Three more congressmen join as co-sponsors of the USA Freedom ACT.

[Savannahmann]

Now the count is over 120, and one can hope that it will continue to gain momentum. http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/jan/18/nsa-congress-reform-barack-obama-speech]

Critics of National Security Agency surveillance are hoping President Barack Obama's call to stop government collection of telephone data will give fresh momentum to legislation aimed at banning the practice entirely.

On Friday, three new co-sponsors joined the 120 congressmen who have already backed the so-called USA Freedom Act, but their reform bill faces tough competition from rival lawmakers who claim the president's broad support for the NSA favours separate efforts to protect its powers.

Now, the Party First Purists will denounce the effort because it's being led by Sensenbrenner a Republican. They will tell you that nothing good can ever come from the Republican Party. They will tell you that any effort by the Republicans is merely an effort to make President Obama look bad. Deng famously told Mao that it doesn't matter if the cat is black, or white, so long as it catches mice.

What Deng was saying is that it is the results that matter, not the way that you achieve those desired results. Mao disagreed, demanding to know what Capitalist told that lie. Mao made the same mistake that many here make, putting party purity before the desired results. Will we make the same mistake where our freedoms are concerned? I for one do not want to sacrifice my freedoms any longer because petulant children stomp their foot and announce they're not going to play as long as their childhood rival is there. This is too important to let petulant nonsense get in the way. This is our best chance to get some momentum for personal privacy again.

We have a chance to strengthen the 4th Amendment, to strengthen the individual freedoms we all take for granted. Look at the list of names again, there are more Democrats than Republicans signing on to co-sponsor that legislation. We have a chance to achieve a goal that a vast majority of us would love to have. I personally don't care if the cat is black or white, I just want the mouse caught. Many here will object. They will denounce the effort as propaganda from the RW, or a tool to demonize the Democrats, or an effort to get a populist result from the masses. There are those who have told us that the NSA is a great organization doing a difficult job with as much concern for our privacy as possible. Both of these groups are not telling the truth. The NSA has been raiding those databases regularly, despite the assurances that they weren't. President Obama told us on Friday that from now on, the NSA would have to have a Warrant from the FISA court to search the databases. At least we now know that they weren't following that rule before right?

I am disappointed to admit that my own Congressman is not on this list, and I can assure you I have written him urging him to join as a co-sponsor of this legislation.

Write your congressman, tell them that we want our personal privacy protected. Tell them that the Fourth Amendment is not some arcane joke. It is a very serious protection that we expect to be vigorously defended without exception.

[DonViejo]

1. I'll bookmark your OP but,

please drop me an e-mail letting me know when this occurs:

Now, the Party First Purists will denounce the effort because it's being led by Sensenbrenner a Republican. They will tell you that nothing good can ever come from the Republican Party. They will tell you that any effort by the Republicans is merely an effort to make President Obama look bad.

Thank you!

[quinnox]

2. Yep, we need to pass this or something close to it

Nice to see real progressives like Grayson and others supporting this. Obama won't be president forever, and Congress can change quickly too. Keep up the pressure, and it will get done, eventually.

[PowerToThePeople]

3. 3 of 10 of my state's Reps are backing

and they come form the very dark blue parts of the state. The red zones are absent from any backing. i think this says something..

(Washington state)

The USA FREEDOM Act
Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ending Eavesdropping, Dragnet Collection, and Online Monitoring Act
H.R. 3361/ S. 1599
Purpose: To rein in the dragnet collection of data by the National Security Agency (NSA) and other government agencies, increase transparency of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), provide businesses the ability to release information regarding FISA requests, and create an independent constitutional advocate to argue cases before the FISC.

End bulk collection of Americans’ communications records
• The USA Freedom Act ends bulk collection under Section 215 of the Patriot Act.
• The bill would strengthen the prohibition on "reverse targeting" of Americans—that is, targeting a foreigner with the goal of obtaining communications involving an American.
• The bill requires the government to more aggressively filter and discard information about Americans accidentally collected through PRISM and related programs.

Reform the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court
• The USA Freedom Act creates an Office of the Special Advocate (OSA) tasked with promoting privacy interests before the FISA court’s closed proceedings. The OSA will have the authority to appeal decisions of the FISA court.
• The bill creates new and more robust reporting requirements to ensure that Congress is aware of actions by the FISC and intelligence community as a whole.
• The bill would grant the Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board subpoena authority to investigate issues related to privacy and national security.

Increase Transparency
• The USA Freedom Act would end secret laws by requiring the Attorney General to publicly disclose all FISC decisions issued after July 10, 2003 that contain a significant construction or interpretation of law.
• Under the bill, Internet and telecom companies would be allowed to publicly report an estimate of (1) the number of FISA orders and national security letters received, (2) the number of such orders and letters complied with, and (3) the number of users or accounts on whom information was demanded under the orders and letters.
• The bill would require the government to make annual or semiannual public reports estimating the total number of individuals and U.S. persons that were subject to FISA orders authorizing electronic surveillance, pen/trap devices, and access to business records.

National Security Letters
• The USA Freedom Act adopts a single standard for Section 215 and NSL protection to ensure the Administration doesn’t use different authorities to support bulk collection. It also adds a sunset date to NSLs requiring that Congress reauthorize the government’s authority thereby ensuring proper congressional review.

http://sensenbrenner.house.gov/legislation/theusafreedomact.htm

Hmmm, this may fall into the "let's try to make it less evil" legislation imo. I am not sure it goes far enough. But, something is better than nothing. Gonna keep a hand ready to hold my nose in support if I need to...

I do like this idea a lot:

The USA Freedom Act ends bulk collection under Section 215 of the Patriot Act.

[JEFF9K]

4. "USA FREEDOM ACT" - Why not just call it the ...

"USA FREEDOM ACT" - Why not just call it the ...

... "REPUBLICAN BUZZWORD ACT?"

[DonViejo]

5. Please expand on your comment or, please reply to this question for me

why call it the "Republican Buzzword Act."? Thank you in advance for your response.

[JEFF9K]

14. "USA" and "Freedom" are both Republican "buzzwords."

[Savannahmann]

13. Thank you

That is a definite possibility.

[PeaceNikki]

6. I am in Sensenbrenner's district. I wouldn't trust him as far as I could throw his fat ass.

He introduced the USA PATRIOT Act to the House.

[PowerToThePeople]

9. maybe it is his way to keep the patriot act going?

USA Freedom act as a shield for the Patriot Act?

[PeaceNikki]

10. He's flailing trying to undo what his did with the PATRIOT act. He didn't mean to give that power to

a DEMOCRAT, after all.

[Bluenorthwest]

7. Sensenbrenner and Leahy Sponsors, more Democratic co sponsors than Republican

including my Representative and other Democrats I respect.

[rgbecker]

8. Keating, Massachusetts, on the list of supporters.

Keating is a thoughtful guy and I'm sure he didn't rush in to push a Republican talking point. I was happy to find his name on the list.

No one even mentions the cost of gathering and storing this big pile of phone records which to date, even the proponents agree, has never helped capture one single terrorist. This program is another government boondoggle for nothing...sort of like the invasion of Iraq.

[Savannahmann]

11. I agree completely

I doubt that Grayson would sign on if he had any reason to believe it was some sort of publicity stunt for the Rethugs. But my point is this, what is our goal? Can we accomplish it without some Republicans? The answer to the second is a resounding no. So we might as well accept that we're going to have to deal with them, and knock off the asinine knee jerk response by too many that anything the Republicans are in favor of is automatically bad. It's why we need to return to our core principles over party purity.

[dickthegrouch]

12. They are afraid they will be caught too!

If the government ever goes looking for criminal behavior in that vast database, the republicans know they will be swept up too. That's the only reason I can think of that they'd want to make changes.