House Votes to Limit NSA Surveillance

In a 303-to-121 vote on Thursday, the House of Representatives voted to limit the National Security Agency's power to collect metadata in bulk. The version of the reform bill that passed, however, was watered down after lobbying from the intelligence community and Obama administration. The weaker bill angers some technology companies and advocates. “If House leaders had backed up their members and stood behind the bill that passed unanimously out of two committees, rather than caving to the intelligence community’s list of demands, a much stronger reform bill would have passed the House this morning,” said the policy director at the Open Technology Institute. Meanwhile, civil liberatarians are asking for patience: “While we share the concerns of many—including members of both parties who rightly believe the bill does not go far enough—without it we would be left with no reform at all,” said the director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Washington legislative office.