On Tuesday the Senate Intelligence Committee voted 11 to 4 in a closed door session to approve an expansion of the USA PATRIOT Act. The Intelligence Committee is made up of 8 Republicans and 7 Democrats, including Michigan Senator Carl Levin. The Intelligence Committee meeting was held in secret, a move which was criticized by the ACLU. The new measures approved by the committee would make permanent the eight provisions of the Patriot Act that were destined to "sunset" at the end of 2005. Also, the Committee approved a new "administrative subpoena" authority for the FBI, giving them the ability to write and approve search orders for intelligence investigations, without getting permission from a court. According to Lisa Graves of the ACLU:

In a move antithetical to our Constitution, the new "administrative subpoena" authority would let the FBI write and approve its own search orders for intelligence investigations, without prior judicial approval. Flying in the face of the Fourth Amendment, this power would let agents seize personal records from medical facilities, libraries, hotels, gun dealers, banks and any other businesses without any specific facts connecting those records to any criminal activity or a foreign agent. The panel rejected attempts to limit this extraordinary power to emergencies - creating the likelihood that it will be used in fishing expeditions and in investigations unrelated to terrorism.