Lawmakers Skeptical Whether Obama Will Actually Reform NSA
Some weren't encouraged by meeting with president
President Obama met with hand-picked lawmakers at the White House on Thursday to discuss the National Security Agency's controversial spying programs, the main event of a week full of meetings at the White House focusing on potential reforms for the maligned federal agency.
The gathering in the Roosevelt Room occurred ahead of Obama's planned announcement of possible NSA reforms the administration hopes to push out before his State of the Union address at the end of the month. It included top defenders of NSA surveillance, such as Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., as well as loud critics, such as Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.
At least some of the lawmakers left the meeting unconvinced that the president is going to do enough to curtail the NSA's activities. House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., said "it's increasingly clear that we need to take legislative action to reform" the NSA's intelligence gathering.
"If the president believes we need a bulk collection program of telephone data, then he needs to break his silence and clearly explain to the American people why it is needed for our national security," Goodlatte said in a statement. "Americans' civil liberties are at stake in this debate."