Two House committees are agreeing on a legislative plan to rein in the National Security Agency’s collection of Americans’ phone records, paving the way for a vote in the House.
The proposed bill marks a major step in the surveillance debate in the House, which has not been able to agree on what to do about the NSA programs since details about it were disclosed last year.
The House judiciary and intelligence committees approved the measure to end the bulk phone records collection. The bill also would ban the bulk collection of all other records, such as credit card data, that the government has interpreted to be authorized under this particular program.
More consensus in the Senate about changes to the NSA program is needed before the bill becomes law.
(AP)