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

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.

#####