Republicans recently introduced a bill in the Senate that will extend the NSA’s ability to collect and store phone call data through December 2020. As it stands today, the law (part of the Patriot Act) is slated to expire June 1. The Obama administration has asked for changes to the program, such as having telephone companies, rather than the NSA, store phone call data. The Obama administration also wants the program scaled back — especially after the negative blowback following the program’s revelation by Edward Snowden. Senate Republicans have, however, fast-tracked the bill by skipping committee deliberations and sending it straight to the Senate floor. Civil liberties groups such as the ACLU condemn the practice as an invasion of privacy and want the bill to expire as scheduled. It’s unclear how member of the Senate and House of Representatives will vote on the bill.
