As the House prepares to work on a major defense policy bill this week, one Democrat has filed an amendment that could spur a floor debate over surveillance efforts by the National Security Agency and how those could snare information from U.S. citizens.
The plan, offered by Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), would limit funds authorized for the military next year from being used to collect information on an American citizen - when they are in the U.S. - unelss there is "probable cause" of terrorism or a criminal offense.
Here is the text of Grayson's amendment, which was submitted to the House Rules Committee:
SEC. 1065. LIMITATION ON AVAILABILITY OF FUNDS FOR 2 INFORMATION GATHERING ON CITIZENS OF THE UNITED STATES WHILE LOCATED IN THE UNITED STATES WITHOUT PROBABLE CAUSE.
a) PROHIBITION.—None of the funds authorized to be appropriated or otherwise made available to the Department of Defense for fiscal year 2014 or any succeeding fiscal year may be used to collect any information generated by a citizen of the United States while located in the United States, including telephone records, internet records, and physical location information, without probable cause of a terrorism or other criminal offense related to action or conduct by that citizen.
It wasn't clear if other lawmakers would also offer amendments to the defense authorization bill related to last week's leaks on surveillance by the National Security Agency.
It should be noted that there is no guarantee this plan from Rep. Grayson will be debated by lawmakers this week, as the House Rules Committee must decide which amendments should be made in order for the defense bill.
Last week, Grayson was able to get the House to agree to an amendment he offered to the funding bill for the Department of Homeland Security, which blocked DHS from buying and/or operating militarized drones.
