By a 67-32 vote, the U.S. Senate passed a government surveillance reform bill on Tuesday.

The USA Freedom Act, which has already cleared the House, now goes to President Barack Obama, who is expected to sign the bill.

Passage of the measure follows the Monday expiration of three sections of the Patriot Act. One of the affected provisions that lapsed was the Patriot Act Section 215 -- which allowed for the National Security Agency's bulk collection and storage of domestic phone metadata, a practice revealed by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden.

The USA Freedom Act would effectively end the NSA's bulk collection of domestic phone records.

Among other reforms, the measure would let telecommunications companies, not the government, store phone metadata. In order to access certain phone records, the government would have to get approval from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

The sections of the Patriot Act that expired Monday will go back into effect when Obama signs the USA Freedom Act.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell hoped to see the USA Freedom Act amended.

"There are a number of us who feel very strongly that this is a significant weakening of the tools that were put in place in the wake of 9/11 to protect the country," McConnell said in Tuesday remarks to reporters, according to The Hill.

The Senate shot down three contentious, McConnell-backed amendments that would have pulled back some of the USA Freedom Act's reforms, including one that would have lengthened the deadline to end the NSA phone records program by six months.

U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) issued a statement following the USA Freedom Act's passage in the Senate:

Safeguarding the privacy of our citizens while protecting America's national security is one of the most important issues facing Congress today, and striking that balance is no easy task. This bill bans the government's bulk collection of Americans' telephone and internet records, and puts in place measures to increase transparency and accountability in our national security agencies. Senate Republicans wasted precious time as the clock ran out on key national security authorities, putting their own political interests ahead of the national interest. With new threats to America emerging constantly and at a time of alarming reports of overreach by our intelligence gathering operations, I'm glad that the Senate has finally passed these crucial reforms on a bipartisan basis.