While political theater continues to distract the masses away from things that matter, the Patriot Act was silently renewed 18 years after it's creation.
Initially designed to "fight terror" by many previously illegal means, that Act was drafted to eventually fade out of existence. But the authoritarian overlords operating in what we know as "government" won't allow it to cease to exist. They want to keep the one-eye of power watching over everything.
Despite the majority of (or many) people not approving of the Patriot Act and it's infringement of American rights, such as rushing in a new era of domestic surveillance, members of Congress don't care. They know the sentiment is negative, and that's why they secretly slipped it into the continuing resolution funding the US government.
You might think it's was ushered in by the right/Republicans, while the left/Democrats tried to stop it. You would be wrong. 230 Democrats supported it's inclusion, with 2 opting to not vote. Not a single Democrat opposed their party's groupthink agenda to propagate the surveillance state.
They also waived a rule that would have allowed members of Congress to read it first. The didn't want to even give it a chance of being opposed.
Both parties are united is mass surveillance, and also in funding more war and all the money the president asked for. This amounts to $1.48 trillion for the next 2 years. It's more than the spending for the Korean and Vietnam wars of last century. It also gives the Pentagon more money than the rest of the government combined.
Regardless of the political complains against Trump for the war or whatnot, the bipartisan support for the mass surveillance and war machine shows that these are two-faced liars who support the the war machine no matter who is in power.
The mainstream media avoided mentioned the awful Patriot Act in their coverage of the vote for approving the budget. It's an open conspiracy to keep Americans dumbed down in order to keep pushing the control state. Neither the political sphere nor mainstream media actually care about American's freedom.