The U.S. Congress has reportedly voted overwhelmingly to approve a ban on bulk collection of phone records by the National Security Agency (NSA), as the House of Representatives mounted pressure to reform the controversial surveillance programme unveiled by Edward Snowden two years ago.
The 338-88 vote in favour of the USA Freedom Act marked the second time the House has voted to endorse an alternative system that would compel intelligence agencies to conduct more targeted surveillance, reported The Guardian.
However, reformers are more confident this time of persuading the Senate to support the legislation after strong support in recent days from the White House, intelligence agency leaders and a U.S. federal appeals court.
With just six days left for Congress to re-authorise a contentious, expiring portion of the 2001 Patriot Act that the NSA employed to justify its bulk collection of data, Senate Republican leaders have said that they believed that the surveillance programme should be renewed in its current form but added that they may not have the votes to do so.
