Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell says House-passed legislation effectively could cause the country to “go dark” when it comes to collecting Americans’ phone records.

Legislation ending the National Security Agency’s bulk collection of phone records passed the House last week by a wide margin and is headed for the Senate. Under the legislation, intelligence officials would only be able to search data held by telephone companies on a case-by-case basis.

McConnell opposes that. The Kentucky Republican appeared Sunday on ABC’s “This Week” and said he’d like to see an extension of the existing program for a few months while legislators take a closer look at the House plan.

If Congress doesn’t act by June 1, authority to collect the phone records will expire, along with two other intelligence-related provisions.

(AP)