Key provisions in the Patriot Act were up for renewal this week and the House of Representatives voted to let them expire.
The bill failed to get enough votes to extend three provisions, which included court-approved roving wiretaps that allow surveillance of multiple phones, court-approved access for the FBI to “any tangible thing” that could matter to a terrorism investigation and the “lone wolf” provision that allows secret monitoring of non-U.S. citizens not known to be connected to a specific terrorist organization.
The extension of these provisions needed a two-thirds majority vote. However, many House legislators, both Republicans and Democrats, agreed the provisions were an infringement on American’s civil liberties and united to defeat the bill.
Without these provisions, are we more susceptible to a terrorist attack?
