Rare News Desk
Kentucky Republican Rep. Thomas Massie led a congressional vote Thursday night that was the biggest victory for civil liberties over the National Security Agency’s intrusive policies to date.
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The amendment, co-sponsored with Reps. Jim Sensenbrenner (R- Wisc.) and Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.), prohibits the NSA from using federal money from the Defense Appropriations bill to implant backdoor surveillance devices in computers, cell phones and hard-drives from private businesses.
“There is still a long way before this becomes law, but the vote last night was significant because it expressed the will of the House [of Representatives] and the will of the people to reform unconstitutional NSA spying programs,” Rep. Massie told Rare in a phone interview Friday.
In December 2013, German website Der Spiegel revealed that the NSA had the power to intercept packages from tech companies like Cisco and Samsung and surreptitiously place surveillance software within the packages. Writer Glenn Greenwald released the first photos of this practice in his 2014 book “No Place to Hide: Edward Snowden, the NSA, and the U.S. Surveillance State.”
The bill will also block the NSA from gaining access to online communications without a warrant, under section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
When the final votes were tallied, the ayes outnumbered the nays by 170 votes.
This was not the case when the vote was first called.
According to Rep. Massie, the amendment did not pass under a “voice” vote, a procedural first vote which is not considered part of the official record. It wasn’t until Massie’s colleague Rep. Lofgren requested a “recorded” vote that the amendment passed.
“It’s the opinion of the chair whether it passed or failed, the chair did not vote in our favor so my co-sponsor Rep. Zoe Lofgren requested a recorded vote,” Massie said. Unless under extraneous circumstances the individual voting record of a “voice” vote is never made public.
The congressional victory speaks volumes to the changing bipartisan attitudes toward the actions of the NSA and other government spying practices. The bill passed with overwhelming support from members of both parties.
“I’m pleased with the Democratic side…they voted in a greater majority than the Republicans, in spite of the fact that their president is generally resistant to these reforms,” the freshman congressman said.
“I’m really proud of the Republican side because we had a majority of Republicans…probably for the first time ever…vote for significant reforms to these unconstitutional spying programs.”
Despite the long journey ahead for the the amendment to become a law, Rep. Massie believes that what happened on the House floor last night is a model for how Democrats and Republicans can work together to get things done in Washington, D.C.
By dealing with a narrow issue that resonates with the public, Massie hopes members of both parties can finally find common ground.
“Instead of creating a huge bill that deals with ten different issues in an effort to get people to vote for things they don’t really agree with…Instead of that, let’s bring up issues where there is majority bi-partisan agreement, and deal with them individually. Let’s pass and vote on them individually, so you have accountability.”
