Right of Privacy Versus Terrorism

Open email to Rep. Neugebauer (Texas):

Dear Rep. Neugebauer,
    The House just voted NOT to reduce funding for the National Security Agency (NSA), which has been invading the privacy of the average citizen by confiscating his telephone records. Presumably, the basis for support of the NSA program is that it protects the public from terrorist activities.
    I have great difficulty in seeing the connection between collecting telephone records of the average citizen and identifying potential terrorists. There is no doubt that a telephone record on a specific person of suspicion can be very revealing concerning the likelihood of his future activities, but one does not find persons of suspicion by collecting millions or billions of standard telephone records. Law enforcement people find suspicious characters from leads given by the general public, foreign governments (such as the Russian information concerning the Boston bombers), Interpol, and the traditional methods of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), which uses spies, drones, double agents, etc. If a potential terrorist has ever been identified by use of millions/billions of telephone records, I would like to hear about it.
    Relating discovery of terrorists to a database involving telephone records of all US citizens is a ridiculous concept. Once again, the House has voted for something out of complete ignorance. May I remind you of Obamacare?
    How did you vote on this NSA matter?