After a late Senate vote after midnight on Friday, the NSA is starting to take moves to shut down its bulk surveillance programs. With the legal foundation of those programs, the Patriot Act, set to expire at the end of the month, lawmakers have been working to agree on which parts of the mass surveillance systems should stay and which should go. The Senate failed to pass a replacement bill, the USA Freedom Act, and another measure proposed by Senate Majority Leader McConnell (R-KY) to extend the program as-is also did not pass.

"That process has begun."

In response to the news, officials said that the NSA would have to start taking action to prepare to shut down its bulk surveillance programs, like those that controversially collect "metadata" on millions of phone calls. According to The Los Angeles Times, an official now says that "that process has begun." If Congress can't agree to either limit or renew the Patriot Act, the NSA will have to end its programs that rely on the broad language of that bill, which was originally passed in the aftermath of the September 11th attacks.

Many view the USA Freedom Act as the most viable path forward. It largely extends key parts of the Patriot Act, but with a few restrictions and limitations. Specifically, it would modify Section 215, which has been used under broad interpretations (recently ruled illegal by an Appeals Court) to justify the NSA's bulk surveillance programs. The House passed the bill last month, but it fell short by three votes in the Senate. A last minute emergency session has been scheduled for Sunday, May 31st, after the Senate returns from a week-long recess, to try and pass a bill before the deadline.