U.S. House Votes to Limit NSA Spying

House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., speaks at her weekly news briefing on May 9, 2014, on Capitol Hill in Washington.

Image: Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press

By Lorenzo Franceschi-Bicchierai2014-06-20 15:24:18 UTC

The road to NSA reform took another unexpected turn.

In a surprise vote late Thursday night, the U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly sided in favor of an amendment that would stop two key NSA surveillance activities: searching government databases for information on U.S. citizens without a warrant the so-called "backdoor searches" and ask hardware and software makers to build backdoors for surveillance purposes.

The amendment was introduced as part of the 2015 Defense Appropriations bill, the annual bill to fund the military, which includes funds for the NSA. Representatives passed it after just 10 minutes of debate, with 293 votes in favor and 123 against.

Strictly speaking, the measure doesn't prohibit the NSA from conducting backdoor searches or asking companies to introduce backdoors in their products but it cuts funding for both these activities. If it becomes law, the measure would effectively prevent the NSA from doing that.

The vote, which was bipartisan (among its supporters were 158 Democrats and 135 Republicans,) shows that Congress isn't done with NSA reforms after passing the USA Freedom Act, which critics labelled as "watered-down," and "weak."

"Tonight's overwhelming vote to rein in the NSA's backdoor access to Americans' data signals widespread discontent amongst House members over how the USA Freedom Act was watered down by the House leadership in secret negotiations with the intelligence community," Kevin Bankston, the policy director for the New America Foundation's Open Technology Institute, said in a statement.

The amendment is just a first step, however. The bill still needs to be approved by the Senate and then signed into law by President Barack Obama. However, the vote shows how much has changed in terms of how Congress views the NSA after a year of Snowden revelations. Last summer, a similar amendment to defund the NSA's phone surveillance was rejected by Congress in a close vote. Months later, lawmakers seem to have changed their minds.

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U.S. House Votes to Limit NSA Spying