WASHINGTON – Voting 338-88, the House of Representatives today approved the USA FREEDOM Act – legislation that Congressman David N. Cicilline (D-RI) has co-sponsored and worked last week to pass through the House Judiciary Committee in order to end the NSA’s controversial bulk data collection program.

“I am pleased that the House moved swiftly to pass the USA FREEDOM Act today, but even after this legislation is signed into law, there is still be more work to do in order to curb other excesses of government surveillance,” said Cicilline, an original co-sponsor of the proposal. “I will continue to work with advocates for additional reforms that are necessary to curtail Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) so the National Security Agency is prohibited from indiscriminately spying on American citizens and also to limit the use of roving wiretaps by the Federal government.”

The Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring (USA FREEDOM) Act would protect civil liberties by ending the National Security Agency’s (NSA’s) ability to conduct warrantless bulk data collection on United States citizens. The bipartisan proposal has been endorsed by the White House and now awaits consideration in the U.S. Senate.

“Ending the NSA’s bulk data collection program would be a major victory for personal privacy and civil liberties,” added Miriam Weizenbaum, a Providence attorney and civil liberties advocate. “I applaud Congressman Cicilline for co-sponsoring and working to help pass this legislation, and I hope the U.S. Senate will do the same.”

Published media reports first outlined the full scope of the NSA’s bulk data collection program in June 2013 when it was revealed that communications data for millions of American citizens was being collected and maintained by the Agency regardless of whether the individual was suspected of committing a crime. The revelations led the NSA to admit last December that it had “incorrectly acquired” data on American citizens for 12 years.

In addition to ending the bulk data collection program, the USA FREEDOM Act gives courts new discretion to require the deletion of overly broad information that is collected, imposes new limits on collecting data from individuals who have communicated with a surveillance target, and requires the Director of the FBI to approve any gag orders in connection with a subpoena (previously an FBI agent could issue a gag order without additional oversight).