On May 8, House Intelligence Committee will markup bill to end bulk metadata collection

The House Intelligence Committee plans to mark up bipartisan legislation that would end the bulk collection of telephone metadata by the government.

The bipartisan FISA Transparency and Modernization Act of 2014, H.R. 4291, introduced by Chairman Mike Rogers (R-MI) and ranking member C.A. Dutch Ruppersberger (R-MD), is cosponsored by 11 members of the House Intelligence Committee, Republicans and Democrats alike, according to a notice on the full committee’s Web site.

In a joint statement, Rep. Rogers and Rep. Ruppersberger said, “This bill directly addresses the privacy concerns many Americans have expressed over bulk collection. The bill ends bulk collection of telephone metadata and increases transparency while maintaining the tools our government needs to keep Americans and our allies safe. We believe this bill responds to the concerns many members of Congress have expressed and can be the compromise vehicle to reform FISA while preserving important counterterrorism capabilities.”

The markup of the bill will occur in the Intelligence Committee’s closed spaces, HVC-304, in order to allow the committee to discuss classified information in closed session.