A bipartisan amendment passed the House of Representatives that would cut funding of the National Security Agency's "backdoor surveillance" on Americans.

The amendment, sponsored by Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky, Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. and Zoe Lofgren, D-Calif., was passed with a 293-123 vote and will accompany the 2015 Department of Defense Appropriations Act (H.R. 4870). The amendment would also stop the government, including the CIA, from accessing private electronic information without a warrant and from requiring companies to install encryption backdoors on their devices.

The amendment specified "none of the funds made available by this [Defense Appropriations Act] may be used by an officer or employee of the United States to query a collection of foreign intelligence information acquired under section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 (50 U.S.C. 1881a) using a United States person as an identifier."

Exemptions to the amendment were noted, such as a "reasonable belief" that an American's life or safety is threatened and if the American consents to the search.

"There's no question Americans have become increasingly alarmed with the breadth of unwarranted government surveillance programs used to store and search their private data," Reps. Lofgren, Massie and Sensenbrenner said in a joint statement. "By adopting this amendment, Congress can take a sure step toward shutting the back door on mass surveillance."

According to the three House representatives, the amendment reinstates a provision that was removed from the original USA FREEDOM Act.

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Rep. Dutch Ruppersberger, D-Md., member of the House Intelligence Committee, criticized the amendment.

"Ultimately, while I applaud these members for looking for ways to reform our intelligence gathering, we shouldn't consider this on an appropriations bill with only 10 minutes of debate," Ruppersberger said, via The Hill.

The amendment was debated for 10 minutes at approximately 9:30 p.m. on Thursday night and reportedly passed during the 10 p.m. hour.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., stated the amendment could put Americans at risk because of restricting the NSA's data gathering.

"This amendment would create a blind spot for the intelligence community tracking terrorists with direct connections to the U.S. homeland," Goodlatte said. "Such an impediment would put American lives at risk of another terrorist attack."

The Electronic Frontier Foundation's staff attorney, Mark Rumold, said the House made an "important step" in controlling the NSA. The EFF had supported the amendment along with the Google, Free Press, FreedomWorks, Fight for the Future, Demand Progress and Taskforce.is.

"We applaud the House for taking this important first step, and we look forward to other elected officials standing up for our right to privacy," Rumold said.

The amendment still requires a Senate vote.

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