AZUZ: The U.S. Congress is moving closer to renewing a controversial law that allows the government to collect information about people in other countries who aren't U.S. citizens. This is part of something called FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which dates back to 1978. A component of FISA passed more recently in 2008 lets U.S. intelligence officials gather email and text messages of foreigners without a warrant.

美国国会离延长一项备受争议的法律更近一步，该法律允许美国政府收集境外外籍公民的信息。这一法律是《外国情报监听法》(简称FISA)的其中一项条款，该法在1978年制定。《外国情报监听法》的这一条款在2008年通过，允许美国情报官员在未获得许可证的情况下收集外国公民的电子邮件和短信。

But because the information of American citizens can also be caught up in this intelligence gathering, some privacy advocates oppose the law, while its supporters say it's necessary to keep American safe.

但是由于这种情报收集也会收集到美国公民的信息，所以一些隐私倡导者反对这一法律，但是该法律的支持者则认为，有必要保证美国人的安全。

These divisions aren't strictly along party lines. Most Republicans, including President Donald Trump, support reauthorizing the law, but dozens don't. Most Democrats don't want to reauthorize the law, but dozens do.

这些分歧并不是严格依据党派路线划分的。包括唐纳德·特朗普总统在内的大多数共和党人支持重新授权该法律，但是数十名共和党人表示不支持。大多数民主党人不希望重新授权该法律，但是数十名民主党人表示支持。

We say reauthorize because this part of FISA is set to expire on January 19th unless Congress renews it. And lawmakers moved a step closer to doing that yesterday when the House of Representatives voted 256-164 to renew the law.

我们用重新授权这个词，是因为《外国情报监听法》中的这一条款将于1月19日到期，除非国会批准延长。昨天，议员在延长该法律上更近一步，众议院以256票支持，164票反对的投票结果，批准延长该法律。

The House votes considered a victory for the Trump administration, even though the president appeared to criticize the FISA law on Thursday morning. He tweeted that it might have been used to inappropriately collect information on his presidential campaign. Later in the morning, President Trump tweeted his support for the law, saying the vote was about, quote, foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land and that the U.S. needed it.

众议院的投票结果被认为是特朗普政府的胜利，虽然总统似乎在周四上午对《外国情报监听法》进行了指责。他在推特上说这部法律可能曾被用来不当收集其总统竞选团队的信息。但是当天上午晚些时候，特朗普总统又发推文支持这项法律，称这部法律是在外国领土对外国坏人进行监视。美国需要它。

Critics said the tweets caused confusion on Capitol Hill. The White House denied that, saying President Trump supports the law and was happy to see it passed in the House. Now, it goes to the Senate for its consideration, where again, support and opposition is not divided straight down party lines.

批评人士表示，总统的推文在国会山引发了困惑。白宫否认了这种说法，称特朗普总统支持这项法律，而且他很乐意看到众议院通过该法律。现在，这项法律交由参议院审议，参议院的支持和反对意见也不是严格依据党派路线划分的。

AZUZ: The U.S. Congress is moving closer to renewing a controversial law that allows the government to collect information about people in other countries who aren't U.S. citizens. This is part of something called FISA, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which dates back to 1978. A component of FISA passed more recently in 2008 lets U.S. intelligence officials gather email and text messages of foreigners without a warrant.

But because the information of American citizens can also be caught up in this intelligence gathering, some privacy advocates oppose the law, while its supporters say it's necessary to keep American safe.

These divisions aren't strictly along party lines. Most Republicans, including President Donald Trump, support reauthorizing the law, but dozens don't. Most Democrats don't want to reauthorize the law, but dozens do.

We say reauthorize because this part of FISA is set to expire on January 19th unless Congress renews it. And lawmakers moved a step closer to doing that yesterday when the House of Representatives voted 256-164 to renew the law.

The House votes considered a victory for the Trump administration, even though the president appeared to criticize the FISA law on Thursday morning. He tweeted that it might have been used to inappropriately collect information on his presidential campaign. Later in the morning, President Trump tweeted his support for the law, saying the vote was about, quote, foreign surveillance of foreign bad guys on foreign land and that the U.S. needed it.

Critics said the tweets caused confusion on Capitol Hill. The White House denied that, saying President Trump supports the law and was happy to see it passed in the House. Now, it goes to the Senate for its consideration, where again, support and opposition is not divided straight down party lines.