Rep. Justin Amash, R-Mich., comments about the vote on the defense spending bill and his failed amendment that would have cut funding to the National Security Agency’s program that collects the phone records of U.S. citizens and residents, at the Capitol, July 24, 2013. The Amash Amendment narrowly lost, 217-205. The White House and congressional backers of the NSA’s electronic surveillance program lobbied against ending the massive collection of phone records from millions of Americans saying it would put the nation at risk from another terrorist attack.