Senate to return early to debate phone dragnet

The U.S. Senate will return early from a week-long recess in a last-ditch effort to extend provisions of the Patriot Act that the National Security Agency have used to collect millions of domestic telephone records over the past nine years.

The Senate is scheduled to resume debating whether to extend or amend Section 215 of the Patriot at 4 p.m. ET Sunday, hours before that part of the counterterrorism law is due to expire. The Senate was previously scheduled to return from an extended Memorial Day break on Monday, but Section 215 of the Patriot Act expires at 12:01 a.m. that day.

It’s unclear what direction the Senate debate will take. As of Wednesday morning, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hadn’t announced what votes will be taken Sunday evening.

To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

Read more: Senate to return early to debate phone dragnet

Story added 27. May 2015, content source with full text you can find at link above.