Instant Alert: The House reauthorized a controversial spying program that allows the government to track foreigners' calls and emails

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The House reauthorized a controversial spying program that allows the government to track foreigners' calls and emails

by on Jan 11, 2018, 12:23 PM

The House reauthorized a controversial spying program on Thursday.
The measure has been debated in Congress for months.
The Senate must still pass the bill before it is sent to the White House for the president's signature.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The House has passed a bill to reauthorize a key foreign intelligence collection program with an important tweak. It requires the FBI to get a warrant if it wants to view the contents of Americans' communications swept up in the process.

The House on Thursday passed what is known as Section 702 of a program that allows spy agencies to collect information on foreign targets abroad. The bill passed 256-164. The Senate must still pass the bill before it is sent to the White House for the president's signature.

Earlier, the House rejected a measure to impose stiffer restrictions on the FBI. It would have required the FBI to get a warrant to continue even querying the database when Americans are involved.

Those opposed said it would prevent U.S. law enforcement and intelligence agencies from uncovering potential threats to national security. Those who backed the measure argued that the FBI should not be able to query Americans' information in the database without a warrant.

President Donald Trump tweeted about the program Thursday.

Trump said: "This is the act that may have been used, with the help of the discredited and phony Dossier, to so badly surveil and abuse the Trump Campaign by the previous administration and others?"

On Wednesday, the White House issued a statement opposing changes to the program.