Senate Republicans Block NSA Phone Spying Bill

Senate Republicans defended the National Security Agency on Tuesday, blocking a bill that would have ended the NSA's bulk collection of American phone records.

The bill was President Barack Obama's signature proposal to reign in domestic surveillance.

But Senate Republicans say such measures are more critical than ever, given the growth of terrorism abroad and at home.

The legislation would have ended the NSA's collection of domestic calling records.

Instead, the agency would have had to obtain a court order each time it wanted to analyze records in terrorism cases.

The Republican-controlled House had previously passed a version of the bill.