WASHINGTON – US anti-terror provisions that allow security services to bulk collect phone data have expired after the Senate failed to reach a deal.
Key provisions of the law, known as the Patriot Act, lapsed at 04:00 GMT.
A vote on the Freedom Act, a revised bill that imposes greater controls on phone data collection, will not take place until mid-week.
The White House has described it as an “irresponsible lapse” by the Senate.
“On a matter as critical as our national security, individual senators must put aside their partisan motivations and act swiftly. The American people deserve nothing less,” it said in a statement.
The failure to reach a deal means that security services have temporarily lost the right to bulk collect phone records, to monitor “lone wolf” terror suspects and to carry out “roving wiretaps” of suspects.
The National Security Agency (NSA) who runs the majority of surveillance programmes has already begun switching off its servers that collect data.
New legislation is likely to be passed in the coming days, but the delay will be seen as a victory for the Republican senator and presidential hopeful Rand Paul, an international news agency says.
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