WASHINGTON, Aug. 4 (UPI) -- The U.S. Senate has voted to temporarily give spy agencies expanded power to eavesdrop on foreign terror suspects without a court order.
Friday night's 60-28 vote was denounced by civil rights and privacy advocates, the Washington Post reported Saturday.
The bill, expected to go before the House Saturday, would expand the government's authority to intercept without a court order phone calls and e-mails of people in the United States communicating with people abroad, the Post reported.
Democratic leaders said they were disappointed by the vote, but pointed to language requiring lawmakers to reconsider the key provisions in six months.
"My Republican colleagues chose to rubber-stamp a flawed administration proposal that fails to provide the accountability needed in the light of the administration's past mismanagement of key tools in the war on terror," Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid, D-Nev., was quoted as saying.
