Washington (CNN) The government will stop collecting telephone metadata on millions of Americans after midnight Sunday, even after the Senate approved a key procedural motion to vote on a bill to reform that program.

The Senate entered a debate period late Sunday that will push beyond the midnight deadline, effectively ending the National Security Agency's bulk data collection program since it was first approved in 2006. That's when the government first used the post-9/11 passed Patriot Act as the legal basis for the information collecting program.

The Senate adjourned Sunday night without taking up any further votes, but is expected to move on final passage of a compromise bill called the USA Freedom Act sometime this week.

Sen. Rand Paul, R-Kentucky, took to the Senate floor after opposing the procedural vote to continue lambasting the NSA's domestic surveillance programs, pledging to offer amendments to the House-passed USA Freedom Act in a bid for further reforms. Paul had pledged Saturday to "force the expiration of the NSA illegal spy program."

He acknowledged Sunday that "the bill will ultimately pass," but appeared to reassure his supporters, some of whom packed the Senate gallery.

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"The government after this bill passes will no longer collect your phone records," Paul said.

Counterterrorism officials will lose not just the bulk data collection program but also the ability to obtain roving wiretaps to listen in on potential terror suspects, even if they change phones.

Law enforcement officials, though, will be allowed to continue to use roving wiretaps and to collect pinpointed data telecommunications companies and other businesses for ongoing investigations.

Those authorities will likely be restored as early as Wednesday when Republican leadership aides expect a final vote on the compromise bill -- the USA Freedom Act -- which overwhelmingly passed the House two weeks earlier.

But even so, Paul claimed a symbolic victory as he blocked Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell from reauthorizing even just the less controversial expiring provisions of the Patriot Act for two weeks.

The Senate then voted 77-17 on Sunday night to cue up a vote on the USA Freedom Act after top Republicans staunchly opposed to changes to that program, including McConnell, reversed course.

Just a week earlier, that same procedural motion failed by three votes.

House Speaker John Boehner on Sunday urged his Senate counterparts to move forward on that House-passed bill, which renews three of the Patriot Act provisions expiring at midnight and would overhaul the controversial bulk telephone collection program, instead requiring a specific, targeted warrant to obtain any call records from telecommunications companies.

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If there are any changes to the Freedom Act it would have to go back to the House of Representatives for consideration.

Though McConnell's preference was to renew the Patriot Act as is, he realized that passing a House-passed compromise measure -- the USA Freedom Act -- would be the only option to preserve the expiring Patriot Act provisions.

"It's not ideal but, along with votes on some modest amendments that attempt to ensure the program can actually work as promised, it's now the only realistic way forward," McConnell said Sunday.

McConnell's leadership team the staunchest opponents of NSA reform, including Senate intelligence committee chairman Richard Burr and Sen. John McCain, joined McConnell in voting yes.

"Compromises may have to be made," McCain told reporters on Sunday before heading into the closed strategy session.

McCain and others piled onto Paul earlier on Sunday, noting that his efforts to block the Patriot Act reauthorization are tied to his presidential ambitions.

"I think he obviously has a higher priority for his fundraising and political ambitions than for the security of the nation,' McCain, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said on Sunday.

But Paul hit back at his critics during his time on the floor Sunday evening.

"Some of them, I think, secretly want there to be an attack so they can blame it on me," he said.

Heading into a closed-door meeting, Republican Sen. Mark Kirk of Illinois told reporters that he would support the House-passed bill, which he had opposed just last week.

Another opponent of reining in the NSA, Sen. Orin Hatch of Utah, voted yes after saying earlier he'd "like to solve this problem tonight."

Section 215 of the Patriot Act, which authorizes the bulk metadata collection program, is not the only provision of the law set to expire. A key provision allowing counterterror officials to obtain roving wiretaps to listen in on potential terror suspects, even if they change phones, would also lapse.

President Barack Obama has endorsed the USA Freedom Act. In a statement late Sunday night, the White House said the Senate "took an important -- if late -- step forward tonight.

"We call on the Senate to ensure this irresponsible lapse in authorities is as short-lived as possible. 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 read.

During his weekly radio address Saturday, Obama had urged the Senate to move forward and knocked "a small group of senators" who he said are "standing in the way."

Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers Former intelligence worker Edward Snowden revealed himself as the source of documents outlining a massive effort by the NSA to track cell phone calls and monitor the e-mail and Internet traffic of virtually all Americans. He says he just wanted the public to know what the government was doing. "Even if you're not doing anything wrong, you're being watched and recorded," he said. Snowden has been granted temporary asylum in Russia after initially fleeing to Hong Kong. He has been charged with three felony counts, including violations of the U.S. Espionage Act, over the leaks. Hide Caption 1 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers Military analyst Daniel Ellsberg leaked the 7,000-page Pentagon Papers in 1971. The top-secret documents revealed that senior American leaders, including three presidents, knew the Vietnam War was an unwinnable, tragic quagmire. Further, they showed that the government had lied to Congress and the public about the progress of the war. Ellsberg surrendered to authorities and was charged as a spy. During his trial, the court learned that President Richard Nixon's administration had embarked on a campaign to discredit Ellsberg, illegally wiretapping him and breaking into his psychiatrist's office. All charges against him were dropped. Since then he has lived a relatively quiet life as a respected author and lecturer. Hide Caption 2 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers Starting in 1932, the U.S. Public Health Service studied untreated syphilis in black men who thought they were getting free health care. The patients weren't told of their affliction or sufficiently treated. Peter Buxtun, who worked for the Public Health Service, relayed information about the Tuskegee syphilis experiment to a reporter in 1972, which halted the 40-year study. His testimony at congressional hearings led to an overhaul of the Health, Education and Welfare rules concerning work with human subjects. A class-action lawsuit was settled out-of-court for $10 million, with the U.S. government promising free medical care to survivors and their families. Here, participants talk with a study coordinator. Hide Caption 3 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers In 2005, retired deputy FBI director Mark Felt revealed himself to be the whistle-blower "Deep Throat" in the Watergate scandal. He anonymously assisted Washington Post reporters Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward with many of their stories about the Nixon administration's cover-up after the June 1972 break-in at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. The stories sparked a congressional investigation that eventually led to President Nixon's resignation in 1974. The Post won a Pulitzer Prize for its coverage. Felt was convicted on unrelated conspiracy charges in 1980 and eventually pardoned by President Ronald Reagan before slipping into obscurity for the next quarter-century. He died in 2008 at age 95. Hide Caption 4 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers Mordechai Vanunu , who worked as a technician at Israel's nuclear research facility, leaked information to a British newspaper and led nuclear arms analysts to conclude that Israel possessed a stockpile of nuclear weapons. Israel has neither confirmed nor denied its weapons program. An Israeli court convicted Vanunu in 1986 after Israeli intelligence agents captured him in Italy. He was sentenced to 18 years in prison. Since his release in 2004, he has been arrested on a number of occasions for violating terms of his parole. Hide Caption 5 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers President Ronald Reagan addresses the media in 1987, months after the disclosure of the Iran-Contra affair . A secret operation carried out by an American military officer used proceeds from weapons sales to Iran to fund the anti-communist Contras in Nicaragua and attempted to secure the release of U.S. hostages held by Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon. Mehdi Hashemi, an officer of Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, leaked evidence of the deal to a Lebanese newspaper in 1986. Reagan's closest aides maintain he did not fully know, and only reluctantly came to accept, the circumstances of the operation. Hide Caption 6 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers Tobacco industry executive Jeffrey Wigand issued a memo to his company in 1992 about his concerns regarding tobacco additives. He was fired in March 1993 and subsequently contacted by "60 Minutes" and persuaded to tell his story on CBS. He claimed that Brown & Williamson knowingly used additives that were carcinogenic and addictive and spent millions covering it up. He also testified in a landmark case in Mississippi that resulted in a $246 billion settlement from the tobacco industry. Wigand has received public recognition for his actions and continues to crusade against Big Tobacco. He was portrayed by Russell Crowe in the 1999 film " The Insider ." Hide Caption 7 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers For 10 years, Frederic Whitehurst complained mostly in vain about practices at the FBI's world-renowned crime lab, where he worked. His efforts eventually led to a 1997 investigation that found lab agents produced inaccurate and scientifically flawed testimony in major cases, including the Oklahoma City and World Trade Center bombings. The Justice Department recommended major reforms but also criticized Whitehurst for "overstated and incendiary" allegations. He also faced disciplinary action for refusing to cooperate with an investigation into how some of his allegations were leaked to a magazine. After a yearlong paid suspension he left the bureau in 1998 with a settlement worth more than $1.16 million. Hide Caption 8 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers FBI whistle-blower Coleen Rowley accused the bureau of hindering efforts to investigate a suspected terrorist that could have disrupted plans for the September 11, 2001, terror attacks. In 2002 she fired off a 13-page letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller and flew to Washington to hand-deliver copies to two members of the Senate Intelligence Committee and meet with committee staffers. The letter accused the bureau of deliberately undermining requests to look into Zacarias Moussaoui , the only person convicted in the United States of playing a role in the attacks. She testified in front of Congress and the 9/11 Commission about the FBI's mishandling of information. Rowley was selected as one of Time magazine's People of the Year in 2002 , along with whistle-blowers Sherron Watkins of Enron and Cynthia Cooper of WorldCom. Hide Caption 9 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers Sherron Watkins, a former vice president at Enron, sent an anonymous letter to founder Kenneth Lay in 2001 warning him the company had accounting irregularities. The memo eventually reached the public and she later testified before Congress about her concerns and the company's wrongdoings. More than 4,000 Enron employees lost their jobs, and many also lost their life savings, when the energy giant declared bankruptcy in 2001. Investors lost billions of dollars. An investigation in 2002 found that Enron executives reaped millions of dollars from off-the-books partnerships and violated basic rules of accounting and ethics. Many were sentenced to prison for their roles in the Enron scandal Hide Caption 10 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers Cynthia Cooper and her team of auditors uncovered massive fraud at WorldCom in 2002. They found that the long-distance telephone provider had used $3.8 billion in questionable accounting entries to inflate earnings over the past five quarters. By the end of 2003, the total fraud was estimated to be $11 billion. The company filed for bankruptcy protection and five executives ended up in prison. Cooper started her own consulting firm and told her story in the book "Extraordinary Circumstances: The Journey of a Corporate Whistleblower." Hide Caption 11 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers In 2003, federal air marshal Robert MacLean anonymously tipped off an MSNBC reporter that because of budget concerns, the TSA was temporarily suspending missions that would require marshals to stay in hotels just days after they were briefed about a new "potential plot" to hijack U.S. airliners. The news caused an immediate uproar on Capitol Hill and the TSA retreated, withdrawing the scheduling cuts before they went into effect. MacLean was later investigated and fired for the unauthorized disclosure of "sensitive security information." Hide Caption 12 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers Joe Darby is the whistle-blower behind the Abu Ghraib prison abuse scandal in Iraq. He says he asked Army Reserve Spc. Charles Graner Jr. for photos from their travels so he could share them with family. Instead, he was given photos of prisoner abuse. Darby eventually alerted the U.S. military command, triggering an investigation and global outrage when the scandal came to light in 2004. Graner was sentenced to 10 years in prison for his part in the abuse. He was released in 2011 after serving 6½ years of his sentence. The military and members of Darby's own family ostracized him, calling him a traitor. Eventually he and his wife had to enter protective custody. Hide Caption 13 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers The New York Times reported in 2005 that in the months after the September 11, 2001, attacks, President George W. Bush authorized the U.S. National Security Agency to eavesdrop without a court warrant on people in the United States, including American citizens, suspected of communicating with al Qaeda members overseas. The Bush administration staunchly defended the controversial surveillance program. Russ Tice, an NSA insider, came forward as one of the anonymous sources used by the Times. He said he was concerned about alleged abuses and a lack of oversight. Here, President Bush participates in a conversation about the Patriot Act in Buffalo, New York, in April 2004. Hide Caption 14 of 15 Photos: Notable leakers and whistle-blowers Army Pfc. Bradley Manning was convicted July 30 of stealing and disseminating 750,000 pages of classified documents and videos to WikiLeaks, and the counts against him included violations of the Espionage Act. He was found guilty of 20 of the 22 charges but acquitted of the most serious charge -- aiding the enemy. Manning is set to speak in his defense when he takes the stand during the sentencing phase of his court-martial on Wednesday, August 14. He could face up to 90 years in prison if the judge imposes the maximum sentence. Hide Caption 15 of 15

"And unfortunately, some folks are trying to use this debate to score political points. But this shouldn't and can't be about politics. This is a matter of national security," the President said.

While Obama didn't target Paul by name in his radio address, he might as well have.

The Republican presidential hopeful isn't passing up on an ounce of the political benefits his crusade against the NSA's domestic surveillance program is earning him.

He's taken his fight to the campaign trail and on social media, galvanizing his base of support in the lead-up to the crucial Sunday session, all the while his campaign pushed out fundraising appeals.

And a pro-Paul super PAC released an ad Friday that framed Sunday's showdown as a "brawl for liberty," even using the spot as an opportunity to hit not just Obama, but Paul's primary opponent, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.

Cruz supports the USA Freedom Act, but has argued against allowing the Patriot Act provisions to expire.

And Sen. Ron Wyden, an Oregon Democrat who has largely stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Paul's reform efforts, called for the passage of the USA Freedom Act. Wyden had also voted to move forward on the House bill last week.

But Wyden is also ultimately pinning the blame on the Senate's Republican leadership

"Senate Republican leaders chose to run out the clock until expiration of these provisions was the only likely outcome, and they bear full responsibility for where the Senate stands today," Wyden spokesman Keith Chu said in a statement to CNN.