The U.S. Senate failed Wednesday to pass a bipartisan amendment that would have significantly limited the FBI's ability to collect the browsing and search history of Americans without a warrant; the amendment to H.R. 6172, The USA Freedom Reauthorization Act of 2020, failed by a 59 to 37-1 It was rejected by a vote margin of 59 to 37.

The Freedom Reauthorization Act would not give the FBI new powers to spy on Americans, but it would reinstate powers the FBI already had for many years. This authority to collect personal information is an extension of the Patriot Act of 2001. While the Patriot Act was aimed at foreign surveillance, it also dramatically increased the government's ability to spy on American citizens.

The Senate failed to renew these authorities before the last recess, so they actually expired on March 15. However, today's vote passed the reauthorization law. Warrantless snooping will resume soon.

Senator Ron Wyden, in promoting the amendment in the Senate, explained how this process has worked since 2001 and provided a clear breakdown of the powers granted by the Patriot Act:

"Currently, under Section 215 of the Patriot Act, the government can use warrantless web browsing history and Internet search history. Section 215 has been, from the outset, the most controversial and dangerous provision of the FISA statute. This is because the provision is so broad and vague. Under Section 215, the government may collect anything it believes is relevant to an investigation. This includes the private lives of many innocent, law-abiding Americans. As noted earlier, they need do nothing wrong. They need not be suspected. They do not have to be in contact with suspects. Their personal information need only be relevant in some way to what the government is looking for."

Wyden and Senator Steve Daines have unsuccessfully proposed an amendment that would simply remove access to personal reading information under the Patriot Act. The language reads: an application for... . shall not seek an order authorizing or requiring the submission of Internet website browsing information or Internet search history information."

Four senators were absent from the vote, most notably Bernie Sanders. The reauthorization law passed 80-16.

In brighter news, however, another amendment aimed at adding oversight to FISA court proceedings was passed (the Patriot Act greatly expanded the authority of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978); as summarized by Ars Technica, this amendment would "appoint a 'privacy and civil liberties expert' as a friend of the court to participate in some of the court's secret deliberations. This person would have the opportunity to ensure that the Court considers privacy claims and to seek declassification of important Court decisions."

The amendment would also "allow the Court to consider the privacy claims of the individual who is the friend of the Court, and to seek the declassification of important Court decisions.