The expiration, although brief, provoked an outcry from government officials who contended that Senate inaction put the country at risk, while civil liberties groups cheered the outcome. Presidential candidate Rand Paul, R-Ky., succeeded in setting himself apart from the GOP presidential pack, while for McConnell, the whole episode raised bitter questions about his leadership five months after Republicans retook control of the Senate.
“The Senate should have acted before three national security provisions expired, but we are pleased that this historic piece of legislation is now on its way to becoming the law of the land,” said a joint statement from Reps. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va.; John Conyers, D-Mich.; Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis.; and Jerrold Nadler, D-N.Y.
Sensenbrenner was one of the authors of the Patriot Act.
Two years ago, Snowden revealed details of the NSA’s bulk metadata collection program. The Freedom Act will end the phone record operation as previously structured, instead requiring phone companies to retain the records and giving the government the ability to seek access with a warrant from the secret Federal Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) court.
FISA courts have long come under criticism for granting spy agencies wide latitude in the overwhelming majority of cases it hears.
The American Civil Liberties Union heralded the Freedom Act’s passage by Congress as a sign that Americans are no longer willing to give intelligence agencies carte blanche to collect private data. Still, the ACLU warned that the bill does little to ensure privacy.
“No one should mistake this bill for comprehensive reform. The bill leaves many of the government’s most intrusive and overbroad surveillance powers untouched, and it makes only very modest adjustments to disclosure and transparency requirements,” said Jameel Jaffer, the ACLU’s deputy legal director.
Article Appeared @http://america.aljazeera.com/articles/2015/6/2/congress-sends-nsa-phone-data-collection-bill-to-president.html