US surveillance powers expire as Senate fails to reach deal

US anti-terror provisions that allow security services like the National Security Agency (NSA) 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 midnight local time.

According to international media, 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 subsequently 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 BBC reports.

The National Security Agency (NSA), which runs the majority of surveillance programmes, has already begun switching off its servers that collect data.

The Guardian reports that almost two years after the whistleblower Edward Snowden had revealed that the Patriot Act was secretly being used to justify the collection of phone records from millions of Americans, critics of bulk surveillance went further than expected and forced the end of a range of other legal authorities covered by the Bush-era Patriot Act as well.

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. Paul's embrace of civil liberties is bringing new members to the Republican Party, but at the same time alienating many others, according to reports. Paul led a filibuster against the extension of the Patriot Act before refusing to allow the quick passage of the Freedom Act.

"Tonight begins the process of ending bulk collection. The bill will ultimately pass but we always look for silver linings. I think the bill may be replacing one form of bulk collection with another but the government after this bill passes will no longer collect your phone records," he said.

Paul's tactics were not popular with many of his fellow Republicans with Senator John McCain accusing him of jeopardising national security in pursuit of his presidential ambitions.