Sen. Feinstein vows to kill Leahy's NSA bill

Two powerful Senate Democrats are poised for a battle over the National Security Agency's surveillance powers.

At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing, Chairman Patrick Leahy (D-VT) said he will push legislation to end the NSA's controversial program to collect records on all US phone calls. He argued that the program invades Americans' privacy rights while doing little to thwart terrorist attacks. But Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-CA), the chairwoman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, argued that the phone data program is critical for protecting national security. "I will do everything I can to prevent this program from being canceled," Chairman Feinstein said during the hearing. Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL) appeared to side with Chairman Feinstein, arguing that people have little privacy interest in their phone records. "The records are in the possession of the phone company. They're the phone companies' records — they're not your personal records," Sen. Sessions said.