The Senate has Friday to defeat a House-passed bill that would move the bulk collection of telephone metadata to be held by telecom companies instead of the government. Uncertainty surround the bill's fate, called "Section 215 of the USA Patriot Act," because if it fails to pass, it will expire on June 1st. The House has already started its one-month holiday recess. Justice and National Security officials warn that if the Senate does not pass the compromise replacement legislation on Friday, the National Security Agency will have to start dismantling bulk collection of metadata records to avoid practical and legal problems. "Nobody wants us to go dark on our ability to detect terrorist activity," Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn, R-Texas, told reporters, "So I imagine there will be some very urgent discussions" about next steps if both the USA Freedom Act and a 60-day extension fail.
