Congress Extends Patriot Act
The AP reports:
Congress on Thursday gave itself three more months to consider changing provisions of anti-terrorism law that have been valuable in tracking security threats but have drawn fire from defenders of privacy rights.
The House voted 279-143 to renew for another 90 days the three provisions, including two that were part of the USA Patriot Act enacted shortly after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The Senate approved the measure Tuesday evening.
President Barack Obama is expected to sign the bill before the provisions expire on Feb. 28.
At issue are law enforcement powers to set roving wiretaps to monitor multiple communication devices and to ask a special federal court for access to "any tangible thing" - from business records to library checkouts - that could be relevant to a terrorist threat. The third provision, from a 2004 intelligence act, gives the FBI court-approved rights for secret surveillance of non-American "lone wolf" suspects not known to be tied to specific terrorist groups.
Unlike other sections of the Patriot Act, the provisions were not made permanent law because of lingering concerns that they gave the government too much power to spy on people. Those concerns came from both the right and left - the 12 senators who voted against the extensions ranged from liberal independent Bernie Sanders of Vermont to tea party favorite Rand Paul, R-Ky.
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