Patriot Act Gets 3 More Months

The House today voted 279-143 to approve a 90-day extension of three controversial Patriot Act provisions, sending the measure to President Obama for a surefire signature. The House had earlier approved a year-long extension, but today opted to instead mirror a shorter timeline passed by the Senate, Wired reports. The brief extension is intended to give lawmakers yet more time to debate changes to the provisions, which have raised privacy concerns.

At issue are the FBI’s “roving wiretap” powers, which allow them to obtain wiretapping warrants from a secret court without identifying the target, the “lone wolf” measure, which allows the government to monitor people even if they’re not connected to a terrorist organization, and the “business records” provision that allows the government to seize any type of record. All three were set to expire in December 2009, but have been extended twice since then. (More Patriot Act stories.)