On Feb. 11, 2010, Senate Finance Committee leaders agreed on language to extend three Patriot Act provisions that had been set to expire at the end of the month. Included in an unrelated jobs bill, the language for extending all the provisions until Feb. 28, 2011 ignores concerns about unwarranted government surveillance and seizures of property. The bill is expected to draw intense scrutiny from members of both parties, and the final decision to include the Patriot Act provisions remains undecided.
By including the extension into this bill, Congress is forcing support for a measure that each chamber’s committees have already voted to change. Committees in both the House and Senate each approved different versions of a reauthorization bill last fall, but neither had been voted on. The Senate’s version would have renewed all of the powers with only minor changes, while the one in the House called for ending the never used “lone wolf” authority, but mostly reauthorizing the other two. The inclusion of a sunset clause for early 2011, however, will allow lawmakers to revisit the provisions after the dust has settled from the midterm elections of 2010.