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The White House is urging Congress to reject an attempt to stop the NSA collecting Americans’ phone records.

With a key vote coming up, President Barack Obama’s spokesman said curbs on the NSA would “hastily dismantle” a vital counter-terrorism tool.

NSA chief General Keith Alexander spent Tuesday lobbying Congressmen to vote against the proposed measure.

Critics say NSA phone data collection is an unwarranted invasion of privacy.

The details of the programme were made public by Edward Snowden, who had worked for the NSA and is now a fugitive, awaiting a decision on his asylum application in Moscow.

House of Representatives Republican Congressman Justin Amash has introduced an amendment to a defense spending bill, which would block funding for the NSA’s programme to collect details of every call made by or to a US phone.

Justin Amash said: “My amendment blocks funding of NSA’s collection of personal data if that data does not pertain to a person under investigation.”

A vote on the amendment will take place on Wednesday.

Republican Congressman Justin Amash has introduced an amendment to a defense spending bill, which would block funding for the NSA's programme to collect details of every call made by or to a US phone

Republican Congressman Justin Amash has introduced an amendment to a defense spending bill, which would block funding for the NSA’s programme to collect details of every call made by or to a US phone

Even if it passes the House, the measure is seen as unlikely to become law, as Barack Obama’s Democratic Party controls the Senate.

House Democrats John Conyers and Jared Polis supported the move, which they said “makes sure that innocent Americans’ information isn’t needlessly swept up into a government database”.

However, the White House said the measure would deprive the intelligence agencies of a key tool in preventing terror attacks.

“This blunt approach is not the product of an informed, open or deliberative process,” said spokesman Jay Carney.

“We urge the House to reject the Amash amendment, and instead move forward with an approach that appropriately takes into account the need for a reasoned review of what tools can best secure the nation.”

NSA head Gen. Keith Alexander held separate, closed-door sessions with Republicans and Democrats on the eve of the vote in an attempt to persuade them to vote against.

Afterwards he told CNN: “What you can see is that everybody wants to ensure we protect civil liberties and privacy and defend this country.

“We have that responsibility, and the issue is, how do we do that? How do we take care of our people and protect our civil liberties and privacy? This is a tough issue.”

The issue has split the main parties, with Democrats and Republicans lining up on both sides of the debate.

Meanwhile it is thought possible that Russia will announce whether Edward Snowden has been successful in his application for temporary asylum in the country.

Edward Snowden has been in limbo in a Moscow airport for weeks, but his lawyer Anatoly Kucherena says Wednesday is the deadline for the Federal Migration Service to rule on his request.

A number of Latin American states say they are willing to offer the former intelligence systems analyst asylum, but the lawyer says Edward Snowden first needs Russian asylum in order to be able to travel, since the US has cancelled his passport.

The US has charged Edward Snowden with leaking classified information.

President Vladimir Putin has refused to hand him to US authorities, but says he can only stay in Russia if he stops leaking secrets about US surveillance schemes.

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Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is trying to arrange a deal that would see US surveillance programme leaker Edward Snowden granted asylum in Iceland.

Julian Assange said he had been in touch with lawyers for Edward Snowden, who fled to Hong Kong before the scandal broke.

Iceland’s PM said “informal discussions” had been held with an intermediary of ex-CIA contractor Edward Snowden.

But Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson said Edward Snowden would need to be in Iceland to apply for asylum.

Edward Snowden, 29, who most recently worked as a contract computer technician for the National Security Agency (NSA), the US electronic spying agency, has vowed to fight any extradition attempts by the US.

The US has yet to file a formal request for his extradition from the Chinese territory.

The leaks, published in a series of articles this month in The Guardian and Washington Post newspapers, revealed that US agencies had systematically gathered vast amounts of phone and web data.

“We are in touch with Mr. Snowden’s legal team and have been, are involved, in the process of brokering his asylum in Iceland,” said Julian Assange in a conference call from the Ecuadorean embassy in London, where he himself is fighting extradition to Sweden.

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is trying to broker a deal that would see Edward Snowden granted asylum in Iceland

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is trying to broker a deal that would see Edward Snowden granted asylum in Iceland

On Monday, Edward Snowden said US officials had destroyed any possibility of a fair trial by labeling him a traitor.

“The US government, just as they did with other whistleblowers, immediately and predictably destroyed any possibility of a fair trial at home, openly declaring me guilty of treason,” he wrote in a live online chat.

Former Vice-President Dick Cheney and two influential members of the US Congress have accused Edward Snowden of betraying his country.

Edward Snowden’s father has also urged his son not to commit “treason”, using a US TV interview this week to urge him to come home and “face justice”.

NSA Director General Keith Alexander told Congress on Wednesday that surveillance programmes leaked by Edward Snowden had helped thwart 50 attacks since 2001.

Plans to attack the New York Stock Exchange were among 10 plots targeting the US that had been stopped, Keith Alexander told the intelligence committee of the House of Representatives, adding that the snooping operations were critical.

Julian Assange walked into the Ecuadorean embassy in London on 19 June 2012 when his appeal against extradition to Sweden for questioning on accusations of sex crimes was turned down.

He has always denied the accusations, and said on Wednesday he would stay in the embassy even if they were dropped, as he still feared being sent to the US for releasing secret documents.

Wikileaks made headlines around the world in 2010 after it released more than 250,000 leaked US diplomatic cables.

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