Senate passes short-term extension of surveillance law, following House

Politics Senate passes short-term FISA extension, following House in maintaining surveillance law through April 30 By Kathryn Watson, Kathryn Watson Politics Reporter Kathryn Watson is a politics reporter for CBS News Digital, based in Washington, D.C. Read Full Bio Kathryn Watson, Alan He April 17, 2026 / 11:32 AM EDT / CBS News Add CBS News on Google Washington — The Senate on Friday passed a short-term extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, known as FISA, by unanimous consent, hours after the House passed the short-term extension of the law after 2 a.m. Friday. The extension through April 30 pushes back the expiration date of the controversial warrantless surveillance law by 10 days. It was set to expire Monday, April 20. Lawmakers hope the extra 10 days will buy them time to come up with a longer-term solution. The Trump administration is pushing for an 18-month reauthorization of the law without changes, but members of Congress are sharply divided on how to proceed. Critics of the law from both sides of the aisle worry it allows federal authorities to look at Americans' communications without a warrant when those Americans are communicating with foreigners who are under surveillance. This is a developing story and will be updated. Caitlin Yilek contributed to this report. More from CBS News Controversial surveillance program extended by House but only until April 30