Dec 22, 2017

Funding bill extends surveillance powers through January

David McCabe

Intelligence officials urgred lawmakers earlier this year to reauthorize the surveillance law. Photo: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images

Included in the short-term government funding measure that lawmakers passed on Thursday is an extension of a major surveillance law until mid-January.

Why it matters: The fight over the law — which is used to justify the digital surveillance of foreign nationals located abroad but activists says picks of Americans' communications — will be back very, very soon.

Go deeper: Read our primer on the law.

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