The U.S. is headed to a Sunday showdown over its clandestine national security surveillance programs, with a key Senate critic saying he will force the expiration of the law that authorizes monitoring of domestic calls made by suspected terrorists.
Senator Rand Paul, a 2016 Republican presidential hopeful, says he will use legislative rules allowing him to block efforts to expedite debate on extending the U.S. law that expires at midnight Sunday, Washington time, or approve reforms that have already cleared the House of Representatives.
U.S. President Barack Obama is strongly urging the Senate to approve the House-passed USA Freedom Act that would end bulk collection of Americans’ phone records, but let the NSA search the records held by phone companies on a case-by-case basis - a reform he said is only being blocked by "a handful of senators."