Senators approved a 45-day extension of a key surveillance program by voice vote Thursday, just hours before it is set to lapse.
The extension will give Congress until mid-June to work out a deal on a long-term reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which targets foreigners abroad but can sweep in communications involving Americans.
The House is set to hold a vote Thursday afternoon to pass the extension and send it to President Donald Trump ahead of the deadline.
The Senate’s decision to do a short-term extension came after the House passed a three-year bill Wednesday but packaged it with a controversial digital currency provision that made it “dead on arrival,” according to Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
The Senate has been working on its own three-year extension, and supporters of the surveillance program say more time is needed to finalize a longer deal. “This will allow additional time to do that,” Thune said Thursday on the Senate floor.
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