Congress dials back federal spying

Mary Bruno • Feb 6, 2018

Feb 6, 2018

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                <h1>Congress dials back federal spying</h1>
                <h2><p>With the Senate vote on Tuesday to end the government’s mass collection of private phone records, Congress rolled back "the sweeping intelligence-gathering powers it granted national security officials after the 9/11 terrorist attacks," reports the Washington Post. The new bill, the USA Freedom Act, passed by</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/mary-bruno-crosscut-com/">Mary Bruno</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>With the Senate vote on Tuesday to end the government’s mass collection of private phone records, Congress rolled back "the sweeping intelligence-gathering powers it granted national security officials after the 9/11 terrorist attacks," <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/senate-moves-ahead-with-retooling-of-us-surveillance-powers/2015/06/02/28f5e1ce-092d-11e5-a7ad-b430fc1d3f5c_story.html?hpid=z1&ref=avalancheghost.one">reports the Washington Post</a>. The new bill, the USA Freedom Act, passed by a 67-to-32, just two years after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked documents detailing the program's scope. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a vocal opponent of federal spy creep, was happy with the new restrictions. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was not. President Obama signed the bill into law on Tuesday night.</p><p>As for Edward Snowden, he commented in a live <a href="https://youtu.be/lhKXTVc5h4A?ref=avalancheghost.one">Q&amp;A hosted by Amnesty International </a>that "it is meaningful, it's important, and actually historic, that this has been repudiated not just by the courts, but by Congress as well, and the president himself is saying that this mass surveillance program has to end."</p>
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With the Senate vote on Tuesday to end the government’s mass collection of private phone records, Congress rolled back "the sweeping intelligence-gathering powers it granted national security officials after the 9/11 terrorist attacks," reports the Washington Post. The new bill, the USA Freedom Act, passed by a 67-to-32, just two years after former NSA contractor Edward Snowden leaked documents detailing the program's scope. Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, a vocal opponent of federal spy creep, was happy with the new restrictions. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell was not. President Obama signed the bill into law on Tuesday night.

As for Edward Snowden, he commented in a live Q&A hosted by Amnesty International that "it is meaningful, it's important, and actually historic, that this has been repudiated not just by the courts, but by Congress as well, and the president himself is saying that this mass surveillance program has to end."

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By Mary Bruno

Mary was Crosscut's Editor-in-Chief and Interim Publisher. In more than 25 years as a journalist, she has worked as a writer, editor and editorial director for a variety of print and web publications,