Patriot Act extension OK’d

WASHINGTON – Key provisions of the nation’s primary counterterrorism law would be extended for a year under a bill passed by the House Thursday evening after Democrats retreated from adding new privacy protections.

The House voted 315 to 97 to extend the USA Patriot Act, sending the bill to President Barack Obama. Without the bill, the provisions would expire Sunday.

The Senate approved the extension Wednesday. The privacy protections were cast aside when Senate Democrats lacked the necessary 60-vote supermajority to pass them. Thrown away were restrictions and greater scrutiny on the government’s authority to spy on Americans and seize their records.

The three sections of the Patriot Act that would stay in force:

•Authorize court-approved roving wiretaps that permit surveillance on multiple phones.

•Allow court-approved seizure of records and property in anti-terrorism operations.

•Permit surveillance against the so-called lone wolf, a non-U.S. citizen engaged in terrorism who may not be part of a recognized terrorist group.