US House Speaker Urges Senate to Vote on Bulk Data Collection

US House Speaker John Boehner said that the US Senate should act to pass legislation to end the US National Security Agency’s practice of bulk collection of data and replace it with a different program.

WASHINGTON (Sputnik) — The US Senate should act to pass legislation to end the US National Security Agency’s (NSA) practice of bulk collection of data and replace it with a different program, US House Speaker John Boehner said at his weekly press briefing.

“The House has acted,” Boehner said of its passage of the USA Freedom Act which would allegedly end the bulk collection of telephone metadata by the US National Security Agency (NSA). “It’s time for the Senate to act.”

The Senate is scheduled to consider the USA Freedom Act on Thursday. Debate on the bill was held up yesterday by US presidential candidate and Senator Rand Paul who spoke on the floor of the Senate for ten hours opposing government surveillance.

In a separate weekly press briefing on Thursday, US Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi said that the US Senate needs to get something done, so a different measure can replace the former NSA program in order to be responsible.

The bulk data collection law will expire on June 1, 2015 unless it is renewed or replaced by the US Senate.