The US House of Representatives reportedly passed a 598.3 billion dollars defense bill but rejected the amendment to a bill that would have altered the National Security Agency's (NSA) alleged surveillance program.
According to the Fox News, 94 Republicans and 111 Democrats voted for the amendment, while 134 Republicans and 83 Democrats voted no and the showdown vote marked the first chance for lawmakers to take a stand on the secret surveillance program.
Rep. Mike Rogers called on for support from the other representatives for the surveillance program and said that have 12 years gone by and our memories faded so badly that we forgot what happened on September 11.
While Republican Rep. Justin Amash of Michigan, chief sponsor of the repeal effort, said that his aim was to end the indiscriminate collection of Americans' phone records.
Amash offered an addition to the defense spending bill which would have canceled the statutory authority for the NSA program, ending the agency's ability to collect phone records and metadata under the USA Patriot Act unless it identified an individual under investigation.
The White House and the director of the NSA, Army Gen. Keith Alexander, made last-minute appeals to lawmakers, urging them to oppose the amendment to change the NSA operations.
The report said that the proponents of NSA programs argue that the surveillance operations have been successful in thwarting at least 50 terror plots across 20 countries, including 10 to 12 directed at the US.
Meanwhile, the chairman wrote that while many members have legitimate questions about the NSA metadata program, including whether there are sufficient protections for Americans' civil liberties, eliminating this program altogether without careful deliberation would not reflect our duty, under Article I of the Constitution, to provide for the common defense.
The overall defense spending bill would provide the Pentagon with $512.5 billion for weapons, personnel, aircraft and ships plus 85.8 billion dollars for the war in Afghanistan for the next budget year, the report added.
