(Washington, D.C.) U.S. Representative Mike Ross (AR-04) joined 25 other members of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce in calling for a full committee hearing to investigate recent reports of telecommunication companies providing the National Security Agency (NSA) with personal phone records. The group sent the request to Chairman Barton (TX-06) late last week.

“The civil rights our ancestors fought for and are guaranteed in the Constitution have taken a major hit,” said Ross. “The government should not be allowed to infringe on the rights of law-abiding citizens.”

"Our Constitution and Bill of Rights have served this country well for over 200 years.  Now is not the time to start bending the rules."

The NSA currently has records of billions of calls made by customers of AT&T, BellSouth and Verizon without customers’ knowledge or consent.   

The letter also notes recent legislation (H.R. 4943) passed unanimously by the House Committee on Energy and Commerce that was pulled from the floor. The legislation would have guaranteed consumers rights from having their phones accessed without permission.

“I sincerely hope the Chairman will take our request seriously so we can discover the legality, breadth and impact of the NSA’s database,” said Ross.

­­--The text of the letter is provided below.

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The Honorable Joe Barton

Chairman

Committee on Energy and Commerce

2125 Rayburn House Office Building

Washington, D.C.  20515

Dear Mr. Chairman:

As I am sure you have read in a USA Today article today, "NSA Has Massive Database of Americans' Phone Calls; 3 Telecoms Help Government Collect Billions of Domestic Records," AT&T, BellSouth, and Verizon have been providing the records of millions of Americans to the National Security Agency without consumers' knowledge or consent. We are very concerned about this practice and the privacy questions it raises.

The Committee on Energy and Commerce recently passed unanimously H.R. 4943, the Prevention of Fraudulent Access to Phone Records Act, that would protect consumers from having their phone calls accessed without their permission as is currently happening. Although it was scheduled for a vote on the House floor on May 2, 2006, it was pulled because of undisclosed concerns of the House Intelligence Committee that may relate to the above-mentioned article. As you know, we have had a good history of working on privacy and consumer issues together. With these recent revelations, we respectfully request that a full Committee hearing be held as soon as possible. We believe it is important to our constituents that we continue the fight to protect their rights.

Sincerely,