US Senate blocks NSA surveillance reform bill

WASHINGTON - Agence France-Presse

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U.S. Senate Republicans have blocked a sweeping overhaul of a National Security Agency program that would have ended the government’s controversial bulk collection of data about Americans.

The vote marks a blow for President Barack Obama, who had supported the reforms, and sets up a showdown in 2015 when crucial surveillance provisions are set to expire.

Plans to limit authority

The USA Freedom Act, also backed by Silicon Valley groups and major technology firms, marked an ambitious bipartisan effort to reform the nation’s surveillance apparatus following the revelations of government spying by former security contractor Edward Snowden.

It would have reined in the NSA, whose clandestine program has been scooping up vast amounts of electronic data on innocent U.S. citizens as it pursues information on terror threats.