Lawmakers voted 60-34 to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, after the House passed the measure late last week. The House passed the bill after a new version was put forward for a two-year reauthorization instead of five years, a change that helped appease conservatives who had initially revolted against the legislation. A two-year reauthorization would give former President Donald Trump a chance to overhaul the law if he wins the upcoming presidential election.
The Senate early Saturday passed a two-year reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s (FISA) warrantless surveillance program after hours of intense and sometimes acrimonious debate on the Senate floor, narrowly avoiding a key national intelligence gathering capability going dark.
A bipartisan group of privacy hawks had refused to fast-track the legislation, which renews Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but they agreed to back down after party leadership offered a handful of votes. The holdouts, an unorthodox coalition of conservatives and progressives raising civil liberties concerns, could not stop the legislation but threatened to delay its passage until early next week.
