House Passes Reform Bill For End to NSA Data Collection Program

The House passed a bill Wednesday that would end a controversial National Security Agency program that collects information on millions of American telephone calls, adding new momentum to the surveillance reform push in Congress.
The passage of the USA Freedom Act, by an overwhelming vote of 338 to 88, kicks the debate to the Senate, where lawmakers have hit a stalemate on whether to make NSA changes.
If Congress doesn't act by May 31, key parts of the PATRIOT Act, including a provision that the government uses to justify its phone records program, will expire.
The USA Freedom Act — which has drawn support from rare coalition of Republicans and Democrats as well as backing from the White House — is the latest effort to reform the vast NSA spying operation first revealed by Edward Snowden in 2013.