The Senate failed to pass legislation late Sunday to extend three Patriot Act surveillance measures ahead of their midnight expiration. One spy tool whose legal authorization was expiring was the National Security Agency's bulk telephone metadata collection program exposed by Edward Snowden in 2013.
President Barack Obama was set to sign the bill, the USA Freedom Act, ahead of the surveillance tools' expiration at midnight Sunday. But Senate lawmakers who convened in a special session at 4 pm ET Sunday could not reach an accord. The Senate is to to resume debate Monday at noon ET.
As expected, there was much banter back and forth on the Senate floor about whether the Constitution was being gutted or whether the country would come to ruins if the Senate did not quickly adopt the already approved House legislation ahead of the June 1 expiration deadline. (The three Patriot Act provisions that failed to pass the Senate were renewed days ago in the House through 2019.)
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