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National Briefing | WASHINGTON
Patriot Act Extended for 3 Months
Congress on Thursday gave itself three more months to consider provisions of a counterterrorism law that help track security threats but have drawn fire from defenders of privacy rights. The House vote of 279 to 143 followed a Senate vote Tuesday. President Obama is expected to sign the bill before the provisions expire on Feb. 28. At issue are two powers established in the 2001 Patriot Act that allow law enforcement officials to set roving wiretaps to monitor multiple communication devices and to ask a special court for access to “any tangible thing” including business and library records that could be relevant to a terrorist threat. A third provision, from a 2004 intelligence act, gives the F.B.I. court-approved rights for surveillance of non-American “lone wolf” suspects not known to be tied to specific terrorist groups.
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