[jfengel]

No, it's correct. These are powers that already exist. The bill is to renew it. Parts were to expire; the bill extends them. That did not pass yet, but they did vote to keep them for a few months.

If the headline is inapt, it's in implying that the bill is something new. And that this is happening now to hide it, rather than because the existing bill's sunset clauses are coming up.

[pythonaut_16]

So if I understand you correctly, they voted to extend these (existing) powers short term, and will have another vote later on whether to keep them long term.

The headline seems to imply congress is trying to sneak something by while everyone is distracted, rather than maintaining the status quo temporarily.

There's enough to be concerned with congress without being misleading. Framing everything Congress does as some conspiracy theory only dilutes the response when actually shady things are happening.

[jfengel]

You are correct: the headline is not-untrue, but it is misleading. The short-term extension is solely a matter of the pandemic; it's unclear what the outcome of the long-term vote will be.

There are many who consider this bill shady regardless, since it's there to extend powers passed in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Civil libertarians (of whom there are many on this site) always considered it dangerous, and two decades on even more so. So from that standpoint, the alarm in the headline is called for, even if not precisely for the reasons it says.