Trump Signs Short-Term Surveillance Extension

0:00It's April 18th. This is Hartford News today, powered by AI. President Donald Trump signed a bill Saturday extending a major surveillance program under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence. Surveillance act until April 30th. This lets agencies like the CIA, NSA, and FBI grab huge trolls of overseas communications without warrants, even if Americans get caught up in the mix. Earlier this week, Congress hit roadblocks on longer fixes. Trump and top Republicans push for a clean 18-month renewal while House members floated a five-year version with some tweaks to calm critics. But both efforts crashed and burned. Folks on the other side are pushing hard for changes, demanding warrants before cops can dig into Americans' emails, calls, or texts swept up by. Mistake. It's a fight that's popped up year after year, pitting national security against privacy rights. Leaders had no choice but to slap together this quick stopgap after the bigger plans

1:01flopped. The program's authority was set to expire Monday, so Trump inked it without a word, buying a few months of breathing room. Now with April 30th looming, Congress gears up for round two, weighing how to tweak the rules without gutting the tools spies need.