Senate Urged Not to Extend Surveillance Authority in Stopgap (1)

More than 30 civil liberties and privacy groups wrote to Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) on Monday urging him to exclude language reauthorizing a controversial federal electronic surveillance program from a must-pass government spending bill.

The authority, under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, allows federal law enforcement to collect and store communications sent by non-US persons outside of the country. It’s set to expire at the end of the year. Meanwhile, federal spending authority will lapse after Nov. 17, triggering a government shutdown, unless a stopgap spending bill is enacted.

“In its current form, this authority ...