Rep Hoyer: Senate would be 'wise' to end NSA data collection

House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer (D-MD) is urging Senate leaders to end the government's bulk collection of phone records. Minority Whip Hoyer said Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) should scrap plans to extend existing provisions of the Patriot Act -- including the controversial language used by the National Security Agency (NSA) to justify its controversial surveillance program -- and instead adopt the bipartisan House bill that ends the bulk collection.

"I don't know what the Senate's going to do, but I think the House is going to pass a bipartisan bill which I think has broad support and the Senate would be, I think, wise to take that up and pass it," Minority Whip Hoyer said. "The House version is a good model for the Senate to follow, and I would hope they would do it." Minority Whip Hoyer said he's hoping the US Court of Appeals ruling on NSA surveillance will make the House bill "more palatable" in the eyes of lawmakers like Majority Leader McConnell as they work to extend the Patriot Act ahead of the June 1 deadline. "The court decision has got to have made … somewhat of an impact on his thinking," he said. "It should have."