Greater Chattanooga area senators angry over data gathering

People visit the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Johnny Isakson

Bob Corker

WASHINGTON – Tri-state U.S. senators on Thursday reacted with outrage to reports that the National Security Agency confiscates millions of Verizon phone records each day. But through their own votes, those same senators helped the NSA obtain the records.

Several lawmakers appeared to be caught off-guard at the connection, with U.S. Sen. Johnny Isakson, R-Ga., telling reporters he “never voted intentionally” for any bill that would allow the government to review “every phone call of every citizen of the country.”

U.S. Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., said he thought Congress provided authority to the Obama administration to spy on Americans “in a very narrow way.” He demanded an explanation about “how this information is used” and why broad collection is necessary.

In 2011, Corker and Isakson joined 70 colleagues in voting to renew the law the Obama administration used to compel Verizon to release the records.