The National Republican Congressional Committee, tasked with electing members of the GOP to Congress, on Thursday dubbed a report detailing the collection of phone log records from millions of Americans by the National Security Agency another scandal for President Barack Obama.
“In a month dominated by the Obama administration’s scandals, this will, no doubt, be added to the list,” a spokesman wrote in an NRCC blog post.
Other Republicans, however, dismissed the revelation as something long known by members of Congress who voted to grant the NSA such powers. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC), a frequent critic of the administration’s national security policy, said Thursday that he was “glad” Verizon turned over his phone records in the name of the war on terror.
“It’s happening in our own backyard and I’m glad the NSA is trying to find out what terrorists are up to overseas and inside the country,” he said on Fox and Friends.
Sen. Saxby Chambliss (R-GA) also weighed in at a Capitol Hill press conference:
Chambliss on NSA: “This is nothing particularly new… Every member of the US Senate has been advised of this.”
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) June 6, 2013
