White House urges Congress to reject moves to curb NSA surveillance
Obama administration alarmed by vote on 'Amash amendment' aimed at blocking blanket surveillance of phone records. - The Obama administration has forcefully urged the defeat of a legislative measure to curb its wide-ranging collection of Americans' phone records, setting up a showdown with the House of Representatives over domestic surveillance. A statement from the White House press secretary Jay Carney late on Tuesday evening capped an extraordinary day of near-revolt on Capitol Hill concerning the secret National Security Agency surveillance programes revealed by ex-NSA contractor Edward Snowden and published by the Guardian and Washington Post. The White House urged House members to vote against a measure from Representative Justin Amash, a Michigan Republican, that would stop the NSA siphoning up the telephone records of millions of Americans without suspicion of a crime.
Russia Today: NSA holds emergency hearing to fight off anti-surveillance amendment in Congress