WASHINGTON (AP) — The Republican-led Senate has blocked a House bill that would have ended the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of domestic phone records.
The vote was 57-42, short of the 60-vote threshold to move ahead. It leaves the fate of key provisions of the Patriot Act in doubt with a June 1 deadline less than two weeks away.
The vote came shortly after midnight Friday as the Senate struggled to complete its work before a weeklong Memorial Day break.
The House had overwhelmingly passed the USA Freedom Act last week. The measure would authorize case-by-case searches of records held by phone companies instead of the government.
It also would extend two other expiring surveillance provisions used frequently by the FBI.
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