House passes bill to extend controversial surveillance program

Quietly, in the middle of the night, the U.S. House passed a short-term extension of a controversial surveillance program used by American intelligence agencies

In the early morning hours, lawmakers approved a stopgap measure to keep the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, from expiring on Monday

The bill buys time until April 30th, as Congress remains divided over Section 702

the provision that allows the government to collect communications of foreigners overseas

including messages involving Americans without a warrant. President Trump has pushed for a clean extension with no changes

but that effort stalled, with about 20 Republicans joining most Democrats to block it earlier

The Senate still needs to approve the short-term extension before the deadline