Justin Amash hints at widening dissent in Congress against NSA spying
By Zane McMillin
August 19, 2013 at 9:35 AM
GRAND RAPIDS, MI — U.S. Rep. Justin Amash hinted Sunday that lawmakers who voted against his push to defund federal phone records snooping likely will about-face if the matter comes up for future votes.
Appearing on CNN program State Of the Union, Amash, R-Cascade Township, said he's heard from colleagues who regret not supporting his proposed amendment last month to gut funding for National Security Agency spying.
"I've certainly heard from a number of my colleagues, directly and through the media, that they feel differently about the amendment now, that if they had a second chance, yeah, they might have voted yes on it," Amash said.
...
During Sunday's brief interview, Amash said he was "hopeful" that his bipartisan coalition of lawmakers would be able to gut or at least diminish the spying programs in future votes.
He noted that the last vote was an attempt to amend an appropriations bill — in and of itself a different beast — and that future pushes might look dissimilar to that.
"This was an amendment to an appropriations bill, so it had to be written in a very particular way," Amash said, "and I'm hopeful we'll have a way to amend some kind of policy legislation in the future."
Votes appear likely this fall after promises made by some lawmakers during debate on Amash's failed amendment last month.
...
Reply With Quote
Connect With Us