WASHINGTON — The Senate on Tuesday voted to extend for 90 days the legal life of three post-Sept. 11 terrorism-fighting measures, including the use of roving wiretaps, that are set to expire at the end of the month.
The short-term extension gives lawmakers a chance to review the measures that critics from both the right and left say are unconstitutional infringements on personal liberties.
The Senate voted 86-12 a day after the House agreed to extend the three provisions until Dec. 8.
Maine’s Sen. Olympia Snowe and Sen. Susan Collins, Republicans, voted in favor of the bill.
The two chambers must now agree on a common approach. With Congress in recess next week, there is pressure to reach a compromise this week.
The measures include the authority to initiate roving wiretaps. The third “lone wolf” provision, part of a 2004 law, permits surveillance of non-U.S. individuals not known to be linked to a specific terrorist activity.
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