US News

GOP & Dem outcry on feds’ snooping

WASHINGTON — Lawmakers in both parties called for swift action after disclosures about secret government programs that collect phone and Internet data to help thwart terrorists.

Sen. Mark Udall (D-Colo.) said he’ll push to change the USA Patriot Act provision that allows roving wiretapping and other expanded government surveillance tools.

“The scale of it is what concerns me, and the American public doesn’t know about it,” Udall said yesterday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said he wants to see a class-action lawsuit to challenge the government’s surveillance program of phone records.

“We’re talking about trolling through billions of phone records,” Paul said on Fox. “That is unconstitutional. It invades our privacy.”

While some lawmakers from both parties acknowledged last week that they were aware of the programs and backed them to combat terrorism, the disclosure is putting pressure on President Obama to explain their scope.

James Clapper, director of national intelligence, defended the programs over the weekend.

The activities are “conducted under authorities widely known and discussed and fully debated and authorized by Congress,” Clapper said in a statement Saturday.