Erin Kelly

USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — The Senate will take up legislation as early as next week to stop the National Security Agency from collecting the phone records of millions of Americans.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., has filed a motion that could bring a procedural vote on the USA Freedom Act as soon as Tuesday and a final vote on the bill by the end of next week.

"The American people are wondering whether Congress can get anything done," said Senate Judiciary Chairman Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., the bill's lead sponsor. "The answer is yes. Congress can and should take up and pass the bipartisan USA Freedom Act, without delay."

The bill would ban the NSA's controversial bulk collection of phone records while allowing targeted surveillance of suspected terrorists.

The measure is co-sponsored by a rare coalition that spans the political spectrum from Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, to Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill. It also has the support of a wide range of more than 40 groups from the American Civil Liberties Union to the Republican Liberty Caucus.

Supporters of the bill, including major American tech companies, have been pushing for passage in the lame-duck session of Congress so that they do not have to begin from scratch when the new Congress convenes in January.

Rep. James Sensenbrenner, R-Wis., who sponsored a different version of the bill passed by the House, believes the House would quickly take up and approve the Senate version of the bill if senators pass the legislation. The Obama administration has expressed support for the Senate bill, which has stronger privacy protections than the House version.

The NSA has used Section 215 of the Patriot Act anti-terrorism law as the basis to collect millions of records from U.S. phone companies showing the date and time of a call, how long it lasted and the telephone numbers of the people who made or received the call. The data, which are saved for up to five years, do not include the actual conversations. The records are collected about Americans who are not suspected of any crime.

The mass NSA surveillance was revealed last year when agency records were leaked by Edward Snowden, who found out about the program as a contractor at the NSA. The revelation outraged members of Congress from both parties.