GOP joins Obama to abolish the 4th Amendment - NSA Police State Spying Backed

"The Washington elites fear liberty.

They fear you."

Congressman Justin Amash

Constitutional Federalist

The "Conservative" GOP controlled House of Representatives joined hand-in-hand with Comrade Obama to continue the reckless violation of the 4th Amendment of the Bill of Rights and conduct massive Police State spying on all Americans.

The House engaged in a heated debate Wednesday over an amendment from Rep. Justin Amash (R-Mich.) to halt the National Security Agency's bulk collection of phone record data.

"We're here today for a very simple reason: to defend the Fourth Amendment, to defend the privacy of each and every American," Amash said as he introduced his measure. Lawmakers' votes, he said, would answer one simple question, "Do we oppose the suspicionless collection of every American's phone records?"

Amash warned that "opponents of this amendment will use the same tactic that every government throughout history has used to justify its violation of rights: fear." And the measure's foes -- even those within his own party -- did not disappoint reports the Huffington Post.

Apparently, the answer was no.  The House voted 217-205 to defeat the amendment Wednesday evening.

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.

Amash's measure, offered as an amendment to the Department of Defense appropriations bill, would have prevented the government from invoking Section 215 of the Patriot Act to scoop up phone call metadata -- information about whom people are calling and when, but not the content of the calls -- unless the government had a reasonable suspicion that a specific target was involved in terrorism.

Co-sponsored by liberals including Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), the amendment represents the first time either chamber of Congress has weighed in on the revelations of NSA leaker Edward Snowden.

 

 

Conservatives Against Freedom 

Right-Wingers join Obama to support the Big Brother 1984 Surveillance State.

So-called GOP small government "Conservatives" of all types came out of the woodwork in rabid fashion against the Bill of Rights.  134 Republicans (joined by 83 Democrats) voted in favor of the Big Brother 1984 Surveillance State.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), who serves on the House Intelligence Committee,  said she would be voting against Amash’s amendment.

Bachmann made the case that the program doesn’t violate Fourth Amendment rights because the businesses own the records being obtained, not the individuals.  “There is no expectation of privacy,” Bachmann said. “Individuals do not own the records.”

The clueless Bachmann fails to understand that the government needs a proper search warrant to access the information of individuals and businesses.  Businesses cannot be recruited to act as agents for the government in order to avoid the Bill of Rights.

Arguing that phone records collection helps protect a "nation under siege," Rep. Mike Rogers (R-Mich.), chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, said, "Passing this amendment takes us back to September 10."

Pointing to a Wall Street Journal editorial that came out Wednesday, Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) contended that passing the amendment would reward Snowden.


Click here for the roll call vote by member.

(UK Guardian)          (Politico)