Due to the actions of Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, the National Security Agency is no longer allowed to spy on American’s phone calls and are no longer allowed to collect bulk phone data.
The action is considered temporary as eventually Senator Paul will not be able to stop passage of legislation that would allow certain spy programs to continue. The current Patriot Act had a Sunday night deadline to be renewed or all the spy programs approved by the law had to immediately end.
Several Republican senators were upset with their colleague stopping the law.
“We cannot go back to a pre-9/11 mentality,” New Hampshire Senator Kelly Ayotte told Fox News.
“The Senate took an important–if late–step forward tonight,” White House spokesman Josh Earnest said in a statement after the Senate moved forward with debate on the Act. “We call on the Senate to ensure this irresponsible lapse in authorities is as short-lived as possible.”
Officials with the NSA told CNN they officially shut down the program at 7:44 p.m. Sunday night ahead of the Senate’s inaction on the bill.
The Senate is waiting to vote on the USA Freedom Act, which makes big changes to the NSA’s ability to collect phone data but keeps other parts of the Patriot Act’s spying authorization attacks.