Senate passes, Obama signs bill to reform NSA surveillance

(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

last updated 3 June 2015

More than 36 hours after key provisions of the Patriot Act expired during a congressional stalemate, the Senate voted, 67 to 32, to curtail the bulk collection of Americans' phone records in what is being called a "remarkable reversal" of national security policy. Under the USA Freedom Act, which now heads to President Obama's desk, phone data would stay private, but the government could search records under court orders.

UPDATE: Obama signed the bill Tuesday night, saying the "legislation will strengthen civil liberty safeguards and provide greater public confidence in these programs." He also chided the Senate for "a needless delay and inexcusable lapse in important national security authorities."

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Samantha Rollins is TheWeek.com's news editor. She has previously worked for The New York Times and TIME and is a graduate of Northwestern University's Medill School of Journalism.