Congress votes to reauthorize spy tool despite privacy fight

Source: Washington Examiner | January 18, 2018 | Susan Ferrechio

The Senate Thursday passed a bill reauthorizing an important national counter-terrorism tool after a bipartisan fight over privacy protections in the legislation.

The measure, approved by the House last week, now heads to President Trump’s desk for a signature.

The legislation reauthorizes Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows intelligence officials to spy on communications of non-citizens outside of the United States, for six years.

The Senate passed the bill in a 65-34 vote despite intense opposition from a significant and bipartisan faction of lawmakers who say the moderate reforms included in the bill do not do enough to protect the privacy of Americans who are inadvertently caught up in the spying operation.

The bill nearly failed to advance on Monday when it went before Senate lawmakers and did not initially win the 60 votes needed to beat back a filibuster. Several lawmakers had to be convinced on the Senate floor to vote to begin debate on the measure.

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