- New York 07/25/2013 by Andrea Sears (WBAI)

On Wednesday the Amash amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill was defeated by a razor-thin margin, 205 to 217 votes.The amendment, introduced by Republican Representative Justin Amash, and co-sponsored by Democratic Representative John Conyers, both of Michigan, would have defunded the National Security Agency’s program of dragnet surveillance ofAmericans’ telephone and internet records.WBAI's Andrea Sears spoke with Shahid Buttar, executive director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee.