“With about 45 days remaining before a major post-9/11 surveillance authorization expires, representatives of the National Security Agency and the FBI are taking to Capitol Hill to convince legislators to preserve their sweeping spy powers,” according to The Guardian .  

“On 1 June, Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which permits US law enforcement and surveillance agencies to collect business records, expires. Section 215 is the authority claimed by the NSA since 2006 for its ongoing daily bulk collection of US phone records.”  

“Members of the intelligence and judiciary committees in both chambers are still negotiating behind closed doors to determine the shape of a vehicle to reauthorize 215… More likely, according to a multiple Hill sources, is a different option under consideration: making the major NSA reform bill of the last Congress the point of departure for reauthorizing 215 in the current one. That bill, the USA Freedom Act, passed the House in May 2014 before narrowly failing in November in the Senate.”