Congress Extends Surveillance Program, Privacy Fights Continue

0:00It's April 17. You're listening to U.S. News today, AI-powered national coverage. Congress just barely kept a key surveillance program alive with a short-term extension until April 30. The Senate passed it by voice-phote after a wild late-night scramble in the House to beat a Monday deadline. This Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act lets spy agencies like the CIA and NSA grab overseas communications without warrants. House Republicans tried for longer renewals first, a five-year-one with tweaks, then an 18-month clean bill pushed by Trump, but both flopped when. Some GOP joined Democrats to block them. Around 2 a.m., they settled on this 10-day patch, also by voice-phote, and rushed it over to the Senate for a rare Friday session. Lawmakers were fired up, with Democrats calling the midnight vote's amateur hour and Republicans saying they were super close to a deal. Speaker Mike Johnson huddled with holdouts behind closed doors, but his slim majority left

1:01no room for much to send. The program sweeps up foreign data that sometimes catches Americans talking to targets abroad. Official swear is vital for stopping terror plots and hacks, but critics highlight FBI abuses like improper searches on John VI's rioters and 20. Twenty protests. Now it's off to President Trump for his signature. He wanted that clean long haul. This buys time, but the privacy fights and oversight debates are far from over, keeping everyone on edge.