WASHINGTON — The Senate has blocked a bill to end bulk collection of American phone records by the National Security Agency.
The measure was President Barack Obama’s signature proposal to rein in domestic surveillance.
Tuesday’s 58-42 vote was largely along party lines, with most Democrats supporting the bill, dubbed the USA Freedom Act, and most Republicans voting to kill it. The GOP-controlled House previously passed a version of the bill.
The legislation would have ended the NSA’s collection of domestic calling records, instead requiring the agency to obtain a court order each time it wanted to analyze records in terrorism cases and to query records held by phone companies. In many cases the companies store the records for 18 months.
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky said he opposed the bill because it would “hinder the ability of intelligence community analysts to query a database to determine links between potential terrorists.” He pointed out that the bill includes no requirement that telephone companies continue to hold the data.
