By a vote of 293 to 129, the House of Representatives passed a bill meant to protect telecom companies from being sued for eavesdropping. The Senate is expected to approve the bill sometime next week.

Lawmakers have crafted a compromise on a bill that would extend controversial eavesdropping legislation and add provisions meant to protect telecommunications companies from private lawsuits, including several already under way.

Ending months of negotiations, the House of Representatives on Friday passed a bill that shields cooperating telecommunications providers from invasion of privacy lawsuits and extends the powers of government agencies to order wiretaps without a judge-issued warrant.

The House passed the update to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) by a vote of 293 to 129. All but one of those voting against the bill were Democrats.