WASHINGTON — The Senate has rejected changes to a House-passed bill remaking a disputed post-Sept. 11 surveillance program. That clears the way for the Senate to pass the legislation and send it directly to President Barack Obama for his signature.
The action Tuesday came two days after the Senate let the National Security Agency’s bulk phone collections program temporarily lapse.
Once Obama signs the legislation, the program can be resumed, but it will have to undergo significant changes. In six months the government will no longer be able to collect phone records in bulk, and instead phone companies will hang onto the records and the government will be able to search them with a warrant.
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