House Leaders Sideline Anti-NSA Lawmakers

Some of the most vocal critics of the National Security Agency in Congress believe they are being intentionally cut out of a looming debate on how to reform the agency's program that collects bulk telephone data.

The House parliamentarian gave primary jurisdiction of a newly introduced bill that would repurpose much of the National Security Agency program to the chamber's Intelligence Committee instead of the Judiciary Committee, leaving members and aides of the latter group to cry foul play. Matters involving the oversight of the intelligence community's broad legal authority have always fallen to the Judiciary Committee, a staffer said, adding that he could find no instance since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, that his committee did not get first claim on such legislation. "Many of our members are pretty outraged," the staffer said. "They're trying to undermine this committee's clear jurisdiction, as the debate we're having is on civil liberties and constitutional rights." The maneuver, he said, puts NSA reform in "the hands of its biggest cheerleaders." One of those outraged Judiciary members is Rep Jerrold Nadler (D-NY), who quickly issued a statement saying he was "deeply concerned that today, for what appears to be the first time ever, a FISA reform bill has been sent first to the House Intelligence Committee." Rep Nadler added: "The House Judiciary Committee must be the primary Committee at the center of this reform."