This month the supreme court ruled that the NSA was over reaching it's lawful ability to spy on American citizens. The ruling stated that they had gone way beyond what Congress authorized.
This put the ball into Congress's court to do the "right thing" and take back some "freedoms" which have been thrown in the garbage. This month the Patriot Act is up for renewal and this is the defining moment as to if Congress removes the NSA's current spying power, legitimizes it or gives them more..
They have opted to give the NSA even more spying power than it already has.. "yey freedom"..
The New NSA Reform Bill Would Give the Government Even More Power to Spy on Your Smartphone | VICE | United States
Every asshole whom voted in favor..
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/2015/roll224.xml
The house has voted to allow the NSA to keep in their possession every phone call record which takes place in the US and hold on to them for 5 years. Previously the telco companies held these records and the govt was "supposed" to get a warrant to access these records. (we all know the warrants weren't happening)
With this new bill the govt will hold on to the records meaning they will have access to them once again with out warrants.
The bill also allows them to track internet data on smart phones, something they weren't allowed to do before with out a warrant.
This is what the House calls the "USA Freedom Act". I think it means freedom to spy on the USA.. Meanwhile the NSA doesn't think this is enough and are lobbying for full access to all internet traffic.