House rejects extension of 'Patriot Act' powers

The situation here is a bit more complicated than this headline implies. The House Judiciary Committee plans on looking at these provisions. This bill was introduced to temporarily extend them to December of this year to give them time to do so.

Today's vote was an attempt to pass this extension by supermajority, a tactic that can be used to avoid debate. A majority was reached but a supermajority was not, by a few votes. It will be passed shortly by a simple majority after minimal debate, the Tea Partiers had their say.

The White House wants to extend these provisions until 2013 no matter what the Judiciary Committee decides. They are concerned that abruptly curtailing the use of these powers will not give law enforcement adequate time to prepare alternatives and workarounds.

It is basically all a smokescreen. For the foreseeable future, law enforcement has pretty much carte blanche with respect to surveillance, and is limited only by a secret and completely unaccountable court and a few aggregate numbers they have to report.

  The bill was opposed by most Democrats and some Republicans

65% of Democrats voted against it. While that's a majority (of Democrats), "most" would imply, to me at least, more like 85-90%.