House: End NSA Phone Call Collection

The House passed the USA Freedom Act on Wednesday by a vote of 338-88, in an effort to end the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of phone metadata. After June 1, the NSA’s authority for collecting the metadata under Section 215 of the Patriot Act will expire. The Freedom Act aims to keep metadata with the telecoms, which will have the authority to search for information after receiving a court order. The telecoms would also have more options for publicly reporting national-security requests. The bill moves on to the Senate, where several Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, have already denounced it.