Representative Welch: The Steps Announced Today Fall Short of Reining in the NSA

by Not Signed In | Politics | 1166 Views

WASHINGTON, DC (January 17th) – Rep. Peter Welch (D-VT) made the following remarks after the President’s speech on intelligence surveillance reforms:

“While I appreciate the President’s effort to strike a better balance between the twin imperatives of protecting Americans from harm and ensuring their civil liberties, the steps he announced today fall short of reining in the NSA,” said Welch. “Under his plan, the unconstitutional bulk collection of Americans’ emails and phone records will continue. Congress should pass the Leahy-Sensenbrenner legislation so that the American people do not have to worry about the government monitoring their activities. And it should pass my legislation to shine a light on the taxpayer-financed budgets of America’s intelligence agencies.”

Rep. Welch introduced H.R. 3855, the Intelligence Budget Transparency Act, and is an original sponsor of H.R. 3361/S. 1599, The USA Freedom Act, sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner.

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Contact: Ryan Nickel
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Comments | 1

  • Submitted by Nan Stefanik on January 19, 2014 at 5:39 am

    Thanks

    …for posting Rep. Welch’s response to the President’s speech on surveillance here. Kudos to Rep Welch for working toward greater transparency on the budgetary impact of these programs.

    I’m not so sure that passage of The USA Freedom Act means that “the American people do not have to worry about the government monitoring their activities” however.

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