The bulk collection of Americans’ phone records by the NSA came to a temporary end at midnight Sunday as Sen. Rand Paul stood in the way of extending the Patriot Act in an extraordinary Senate session.

The Senate adjourned without final action on a Patriot Act-reform bill as Paul (R-Ky.), a presidential candidate, asserted his prerogative to delay a final vote, which will now place Tuesday or Wednesday.

GOP leaders brought up the reform bill after they were unable to secure support for extending the existing law over snooping fears raised by Paul and others.

The once-secret data-collection program was made public by NSA contractor Edward Snowden. Critics say the program is an unconstitutional intrusion into Americans’ privacy.

A bill to reform the law — which was enacted after the 9/11 terror attacks to boost government anti-terror powers — easily passed the House, but faced entrenched opposition by some members of the Senate.

“I’m not going to take it anymore,” Paul fumed on the floor. “I don’t think the American people are going to take it anymore.”

He said he would still try to offer amendments to make the bill “less bad.”

President Obama warned the act’s expiration would hinder law enforcement and put the nation at risk.

CIA Chief John Brennan agreed.

“I think terrorist elements have watched very carefully what has happened here in the United States,” Brennan warned on CBS’s “Face the Nation.” “This is something that we can’t afford to do right now.”

The reform bill would shift bulk-data storage from the government to telecom companies. But some companies keep call logs for very short periods of time, Sen. Angus King (I-Maine) warned.

“The program loses its functionality altogether,” he said on CNN.

Ex-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush said, “The law has kept us safe, plain and simple.”
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah), who supports that law, said his side has enough support to move a House-passed reform bill through the Senate.