WASHINGTON (AP) — The Senate is pondering the fate of the bulk collection of American phone records by the National Security Agency, in what is increasingly looking like a game of legislative chicken.
The House has left town, having passed a bill to end the NSA’s collection of domestic phone metadata, while replacing it with case-by-case searches and extending two other expiring surveillance provisions used by the FBI to pursue suspected spies and terrorists. The president and his top law enforcement officials are urging the Senate to pass the House bill.
If the Senate doesn’t act, the laws authorizing the programs will expire June 1, and officials say they will lose valuable surveillance tools. Friday is the last day of congressional business before then.
But key Republican senators continue to resist.
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