NSA amendment's thin defeat sparks battle in Congress over privacy, surveillance

Writing about yesterday's narrow vote in the House to defeat an amendment that would have reined in the NSA's vast spying of phone communications, Spencer Ackerman at the Guardian says a bipartisan coalition is now working to reset the balance between liberty and security.

A tally of the votes shows that a majority of Democrats voted in favor of the amendment. One of them, Barbara Lee, told the Guardian that the "stage was now set" to curb the NSA. "It was a great beginning – a first step," she said. "I can tell you why I voted for it – and most Democrats have the same sentiment – we have to a balance between civil liberties and national security, and I believe this was a very carefully crafted and balanced amendment. Right now, we must rein in the NSA."