( CNN ) -- The federal government must get out of the business of collecting bulk data about Americans ' telephone calls , President Barack Obama said Thursday , saying the information should instead be held by phone carriers who would then provide the material to counterterrorism agencies . The shift came after the collection program , administered by the National Security Agency , was revealed by former government contractor Edward Snowden . The bulk collection of telephone records was criticized as a major breach of Americans ' privacy , and Obama vowed to make changes to the program while maintaining the ability to keep the country safe from terrorist attacks . `` I have decided that the best path forward is that the government should not collect or hold this data in bulk , '' Obama said in a written statement . `` Instead , the data should remain at the telephone companies for the length of time it currently does today . '' A months-long review led to the decision , which Obama announced while on an overseas tour of Europe and Saudi Arabia . Congress would have to approve the plan ; this week , the House Intelligence Committee introduced similar legislation that would end government collection of phone data . Officials said the White House-proposed changes would require a federal court to grant its approval before the government could obtain phone records from carriers . Those records contain information about calls made to individual phone numbers but do not include the content of the calls . Among the provisions included in the White House 's suggested law is an `` emergency '' clause allowing the government to collect phone data without court approval . A senior administration official , speaking anonymously , said high-level government officials would determine what situations amount to national security emergencies , though the official did n't offer a definition of what might constitute such an occasion . Obama , Congress working on changes to NSA . Under the new rules , phone companies would be compelled to provide technical assistance to the government during the collection process . That includes making sure the information is produced quickly and in a usable format . A U.S. official said the White House had `` fairly high-level discussions with some of the providers '' to discuss the changes and how they 'd affect individual businesses . Initial industry reaction to the proposed changes was largely lukewarm . A spokesman for Sprint said the company was reviewing the proposal , while AT & T declined to comment . Randal Milch , general counsel and executive vice president at Verizon , said the telecom giant supported the plan to end government collection of data but added that the new rules `` should not require companies to store data for longer than , or in formats that differ from , what they already do for business purposes . '' `` If Verizon receives a valid request for business records , we will respond in a timely way , but companies should not be required to create , analyze or retain records for reasons other than business purposes , '' he wrote . Because the current authorization for the government phone data collection program expires this week , officials said the government would seek an additional 90-day approval period while the proposed legislation makes its way through Congress . On Tuesday , Reps. Mike Rogers of Michigan and Dutch Ruppersberger of Maryland -- the top Republican and Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee -- unveiled their own plan for ending the automatic NSA collection of phone metadata . The issue touches on deep political and ideological fissures between Republicans and Democrats , promising an extended battle in Congress over the necessary legislation , especially in an election year . On Thursday , Republican Sen. Rand Paul took harsh aim at Obama 's record on privacy as the President was meeting with Pope Francis in Rome . `` @ BarackObama to @ Pontifex : Forgive me father for I have spied . # NSA , '' tweeted Paul , who 's been one of the fiercest critics of the NSA spying programs that Snowden helped reveal . Those leaks unleashed a political firestorm , with privacy advocates and others calling the NSA surveillance programs a violation of constitutional rights . In particular , many Americans feared inevitable abuse of a system in which the government collected billions of phone records for possible review in terrorism investigations . Snowden , now living in Russia while seeking asylum from U.S. prosecution , has repeatedly described the surveillance programs illuminated by his leaks as unconstitutional . Several legal challenges have been mounted against the NSA programs , and some of those cases could reach the Supreme Court in coming years to set up a judicial review of the constitutional limits of government surveillance in the post-9/11 era . Opinion : Get the government out of your phone records . CNN 's Tom Cohen contributed to this report .
NEW : Initial industry reaction to the proposed changes is largely lukewarm . Data should stay with the companies , President says . Congressional approval would be required before the government could obtain phone data . The White House also would need congressional approval .