text: "Today's news from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.):  Spying on Americans: In the wake of a federal court ruling against domestic spying by the National Security Agency, Sen. Bernie Sanders said Congress must narrow the scope of a law used to justify the bulk collection of Americans' telephone records. ?ÛÏI voted against the Patriot Act. We've introduced legislation to curb what the NSA is doing,?Û? Sanders told MSNBC's Thomas Roberts. Lawmakers supporting the vast domestic surveillance databases argue that collecting phone records and emails makes the country safer. ""Yeah it does,"" Sanders said in a report broadcast by NBC News affiliates nationwide. ""But it doesn't make us a free country.""   NSA is 'Out of Control': The National Security Agency is ""out of control and operating in an unconstitutional manner,"" Sen. Sanders said, according to The Nation, ABC News Radio, Vermont Public Radio and Common Dreams. ""I will be working as hard as I can to pass the strongest legislation possible to end the abuses by the NSA and other intelligence agencies,?Û? Sanders said. A Brattleboro Reformer editorial said, ?ÛÏSanders is right to pursue this matter further, for one federal judge?Ûªs ruling certainly won?Ûªt bring an end to the NSA spying controversy.?Û?  Tech Giants Air Privacy Worries at White House: President Obama met Tuesday with the nation's leading technology executives who want changes of surveillance programs in the name of civil liberties, a concern that CNN White House correspondent Jim Acosta said is spreading in Congress. ?ÛÏIt?Ûªs not just the executives of these tech companies, not just a federal judge who says that these collections of phone records may be unconstitutional. You have lawmakers up on Capitol Hill, the entire spectrum from Bernie Sanders all the way over to Rand Paul, saying that something has to be done.?Û?   Senate Poised to Pass Budget: A bipartisan agreement to ease sharp spending cuts known as sequestration easily cleared its last major hurdle Tuesday as 67 senators voted to advance the measure. ?ÛÏThis is a very difficult vote. It?Ûªs very much the lesser of two evils,?Û? Sen. Sanders, according to Real Clear Politics.  Sanders was an unenthusiastic supporter, according to CNN. ""This budget does not even begin to address some of the very serious problems facing our country in terms of creating the millions of jobs we need, in terms of doing away with these outrageous corporate loopholes right now which are costing us about $100 billion a year,"" Sanders told  Nicole Sandler on The Randi Rhodes Show.    Continue reading here: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/newswatch/121813"