National Security

Today, U.S. Senators Patty Murray and Maria Cantwell and U.S. Representatives Adam Smith, Rick Larsen, Suzan DelBene, Derek Kilmer and Dennis Heck applauded an announcement by Washington Governor Jay Inslee that the state has been awarded $4.3M  in Department of Defense (DoD) Office of Economic Adjustment (OEA) Defense Industry Adjustment program funding to focus on the military and… Read more »

Today, Congresswoman Suzan DelBene released the following statement on her vote in favor of the McKeon amendment authorizing the Pentagon, in coordination with the State Department, to train and equip appropriately vetted Syrian rebels and associated groups to defend the Syrian people from attacks by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). “It’s clear that ISIL… Read more »

House Judiciary Committee Member Suzan DelBene issued the following statement today after Senate Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy introduced a new version of the USA Freedom Act: “I am pleased that the version of the USA Freedom Act introduced today includes important improvements to the House-passed USA Freedom Act, and I commend Senator Leahy’s efforts to… Read more »

There are times, albeit rare, when a gridlocked U.S. House of Representatives does something meaningful. On Thursday, the House passed an amendment to the Defense Appropriations bill that zeroes out funding for (some) National Security Agency mischief. It's a baby step to safeguard civil liberties — all relative in the anything-goes intelligence culture after 9/11 —… Read more »

Today Congresswoman Suzan DelBene issued the following statement after voting against a modified version of the USA Freedom Act: “The NSA surveillance bill that the House leadership put before a vote today is a weakened, watered-down version of the USA Freedom Act that I originally cosponsored. “The truth is today’s bill falls short of clearly guaranteeing that… Read more »

EDWARD Snowden really knows how to bring a room together. On Wednesday, that room was the U.S. House of Representatives’ Judiciary Committee chambers, where, by a bipartisan 32-0 vote, members approved a bill that would effectively end one of the most controversial spying programs Snowden exposed. The USA Freedom Act is a landmark step toward ending the National Security… Read more »

A bill that would rein in the National Security Agency, increase transparency on what data the government is collecting and create a public advocate in the secret court system unanimously passed the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday and is headed to the House for a vote. The USA Freedom Act would make significant changes to the way the NSA and other U.S. intelligence agencies… Read more »

Key lawmakers in the House are nearing a bipartisan compromise on surveillance legislation that they believe can pass the full chamber and satisfy President Barack Obama's goal of ending mass collection of Americans' phone data, aides said this week. The optimism comes as the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday voted 32-0 to advance an amended bill that would bar the National Security… Read more »

A House committee on Wednesday passed a bill that seeks to effectively end one of the National Security Agency's most controversial spy programs. With unanimous support, the House Judiciary Committee approved 32-0 an amended version of the USA Freedom Act, which would limit the government's ability to collect bulk metadata of Americans' phone records. Among its several reform… Read more »

In a unanimous bipartisan vote, the House Judiciary Committee passed the USA Freedom Act today which would reform the NSA and end the government’s surveillance programs that collect American’s phone data in bulk. Congresswoman Suzan DelBene is an original cosponsor of the USA Freedom Act and was successful in getting a key amendment included in the final bill that passed… Read more »