House nearly defunds controversial NSA domestic spying programs

The House voted down Justin Amash and John Conyer’s amendment to a defense bill that would have scaled back a government intelligence program for the first time in what must be at least a decade.

H.R. 2399, the LIBERT-E Act, failed 205-217, needing 218 votes to pass. Support and opposition was bipartisan, although it was weighted towards Democrats in favor and Republicans opposed.

Republicans: 94-134 against, 6 did not vote.

Democrats: 111-83 in favor, 6 did not vote.

Seven or eight changed votes would get this bill passed in the House.

It’s a pretty big repudiation of the Obama administration’s position on domestic intelligence gathering and surveillance by his own party, and a promising sign that the tide may be changing in Congress due to overreach.

Leadership of both parties opposed the bill. Former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Speaker John Boehner, Majority Leader Eric Cantor, and Minority Whip Steny Hoyer all voted against reigning in the NSA’s possibly unconstitutional and controversial domestic information dragnets.

North Carolina’s House contingent voted against the amendment 8-4-1, with Howard Coble not bothering to show up to vote.

Renee Ellmers (R), Virginia Foxx (R), Richard Hudson (R), Robert Pittenger (R), George Holding (R), Mike McIntyre (D), David Price (D), and G. K. Butterfield (D) voted against the amendment.

Walter B Jones (R), Patrick T. McHenry (R), Mark Meadows (R), and Mel Watt (D) voted in favor.

If you know the names of your Representatives, you can find out how they voted on the House of Representatives website.