House Rejects Bid to Curb Spy Agency Data Collection
Photo Credit: Reuters/NSABy David Alexander. A U.S. spy program that sweeps up vast amounts of electronic communications survived a legislative challenge in the House of Representatives on Wednesday, the first attempt to curb the data gathering since former NSA contractor Edward Snowden revealed details of its scope.
The House of Representatives voted 217-205 to defeat an amendment to the defense appropriations bill that would have limited the National Security Agency’s ability to collect electronic information, including phone call records.
Opposition to government surveillance has created an unlikely alliance of libertarian Republicans and some Democrats in Congress, The House vote split the parties, with 94 Republicans in favor and 134 against, while 111 Democrats supported the amendment and 83 opposed it.
The White House and senior intelligence officials opposed the amendment by Republican Representative Justin Amash of Michigan, which had been prompted by Snowden’s revelations. Snowden, a fugitive from the United States, has been holed up at a Moscow airport for the past month unable to secure asylum.
The House later approved the defense appropriations bill, which included nearly $600 billion in Pentagon spending for the 2014 fiscal year, including the costs of the Afghanistan war. Read more from this story HERE.
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Photo Credit: Getty ImagesAmericans Have Completely Flipped On Edward Snowden In The Past Month
By Brett Logiurato. The American public’s views of National Security Agency leak source Edward Snowden have flipped in the past month, according to one poll — and now most support him being charged with a crime.
According to the ABC-Washington Post poll, 53% say that Snowden should be charged with a crime after exposing a trove of NSA secrets, compared with 36% who disagree. That’s a sharp turn from the point immediately after his revelations in June, when Americans opposed him being charged by a 48-43 margin.
Snowden is currently in Russia, where he is reportedly being allowed to leave the Moscow airport transit zone in which he has been stationed for the past month. Read more from this story HERE.
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Poll: Majority more worried U.S. surveillance goes too far
By Mark Murray. More than a month after leaker Edward Snowden revealed information about the National Security Agency’s surveillance and data-gathering programs, 55 percent of Americans say they’re more worried the United States will go too far in violating privacy rights, according to the NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll.
Click here for full poll results (pdf)
That’s a significant shift from the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when an equal number in the Dec. 2001 NBC/WSJ poll — 55 percent — worried more that the United States wouldn’t go far enough in monitoring potential terrorists who live in the U.S.
The last time the poll asked this question, in July 2006, Americans were split, with 45 percent worried that this surveillance would violate privacy rights and with 43 percent worried it wouldn’t go far enough to pursue potential terrorists. Read more from this story HERE.
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Photo Credit: APPoll: Congress Rating Plunges
By Melanie Batley. A whopping 83 percent of Americans disapprove of the job Congress is doing, giving the nation’s legislative body its worst grade ever in the latest Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll.
According to the survey of 1,000 adults taken July 17 to July 21, voter frustration with partisan gridlock in Washington is driving the levels of dissatisfaction with Congress. Voters also blame President Barack Obama whose job-approval rating fell to 45 percent, its lowest level since late 2011 in the Journal/NBC poll.
Perhaps most worrying for the president was the slump in support among his strongest backers, including blacks and core Democrats, while independents dropped sharply too.
Pollster Bill McInturff, who helped conduct the survey, called the dip “a telling scratch” in the president’s armor that could hurt the Democrats in the 2014 midterm elections if it gets worse.
“If ever there is an edge that falls off in the president’s core support, that is always very meaningful in an off-year election,” McInturff said. Read more from this story HERE.
