From Associated Press:

By DEVLIN BARRETT
Associated Press Writer

May 11, 2006, 6:23 PM EDT

WASHINGTON -- Rep. Maurice Hinchey angrily responded Thursday to new revelations about secret domestic surveillance by charging the Bush administration wants "to spy on anybody they want to, anytime they want to."

The denunciation from Hinchey, D-Hurley, came a day after he learned the government had abruptly shut down its investigation into the National Security Agency's warrantless wiretapping program aimed to prevent terror attacks.

Hinchey had long sought an inquiry into the eavesdropping, declaring it a violation of the law without approval from a special foreign intelligence court.

The NSA has been secretly collecting records of ordinary Americans' phone calls to build a database of every call made within the country, USA Today reported Thursday.

A day earlier, Hinchey was told that an office within the Department of Justice had been denied security clearance to investigate the NSA's previously disclosed domestic surveillance program. Without such clearance, probers were forced to shut down their inquiry.

Hinchey said Thursday that he wanted to know if the head of the Justice Department or the head of the nation's intelligence agencies were involved in the decision to deny security clearance.

President Bush sought to calm Congress' concerns by assuring Americans that their privacy is being "fiercely protected."

"We're not mining or trolling through the personal lives of millions of innocent Americans," Bush said.

While Bush's words infuriated Hinchey, they were reassuring for another New York lawmaker, Rep. Peter King.

King, a Long Island Republican and chair of the House Homeland Security Committee, said the terrorist surveillance program was necessary in a time of war.

"I start with the presumption we're involved in a vicious war," said King. "And my presumption is we're doing the right thing. From what I've seen I don't think it's a violation of the law."

Other Republicans in Congress questioned the legal limits of the program and said they would seek hearings.

Hinchey argued Congress for months had failed to act as a check on expanding executive powers by conducting hearings into the matter.

The administration, Hinchey claimed, is "engaged clearly in illegal activity, there is no question about that. The question is why isn't the Congress investigating?"

New York's two Democratic senators said they, too, were concerned.

"Like many Americans, I am deeply disturbed by today's revelations about the NSA. We all deserve to know why the NSA has blocked the Department of Justice from investigating the NSA's domestic surveillance program and why it has created an enormous database of Americans' phone records," said Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"Why do they need so many innocent people's information? What's the legal justification? Who has access to it? What protections are in place to prevent massive violations of privacy?" asked Sen. Charles Schumer.