US Senate Debates NSA Reforms as Key Program Expires
US Senate Debates NSA Reforms as Key Program Expires by webdesk@voanews.com (Michael Bowman) Monday June 1 st , 2015 at 7:41 PM Voice Of America 1 Share The U.S. Senate has advanced a bill to reform the government’s domestic surveillance program. The chamber voted 77-17 to begin debate on the USA Freedom Act, which gives telecommunications companies, rather than the National Security Agency, the task of collecting and retaining Americans’ phone records in the fight against terrorism. The bill was overwhelmingly approved by the House of Representatives, but failed in an initial Senate test vote a little more than a week ago. On Sunday, the Senate reversed itself hours before the midnight expiration of the existing program, which is now defunct two years after it was exposed by fugitive former NSA contractor Edward Snowden. For weeks, Republican Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell had argued for a temporary extension of the NSA’s snooping abilitie