April 16 (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives passed a bill early Friday morning to extend a law on government spy powers for two weeks, after Republicans pushed for a longer five-year extension, which was not approved.
House members voted by unanimous consent to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) through April 30.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Tuesday called upon Republican lawmakers to extend a law that allows American spy agencies to surveil foreigners abroad using data drawn from U.S. digital infrastructure before the authorization expired.
The measure will now head to the Senate, which faces a tight deadline as the authorization is set to expire on April 20.
A procedural vote started at about 12:15 a.m. (0415 GMT) on Friday.
Trump on Tuesday said that Section 702 of FISA, which is one of a suite of authorizations passed after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, is vital for the U.S. military, adding that Republicans needed to stick together to extend it.
Critics have argued that FISA violates Americans’ constitutional right to privacy.
(Reporting by Akanksha Khushi in Bengaluru; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman, Lincoln Feast and Thomas Derpinghaus.)
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