>Today, with a vote of 256-167, the House of Representatives passed an omnibus spending bill (H.R. 1625) that was required to prevent another government shutdown. Tucked into the very back of that bill was the CLOUD Act, which would enable the U.S. government to obtain communications data regardless of whether it is held inside or outside of the United States. The CLOUD Act would also create an exception to the Stored Communications Act (SCA) to allow qualifying foreign governments to enter into an executive agreement to bypass the human rights protective Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty (MLAT) process when seeking data in criminal investigations and to seek data directly from U.S. technology companies.