More than a dozen GOP privacy hawks have blocked the House from advancing a bill backed by Speaker Mike Johnson to revamp a controversial federal government surveillance tool known as Section 702 of the Privacy Surveillance Act. Foreign Intelligence (FISA).
It comes hours after former President Trump posted on Truth Social: “KILL FISA, IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME AND MANY OTHERS.”
Nineteen Republicans voted against their party’s leadership to thwart a procedural vote that would have allowed the House to debate and then vote on the bill. The final vote was 193 to 228.
The American Intelligence and Security Reform Act, a compromise bill between the House Judiciary Committee and the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, aims to curb reported cases of abuse against Trump and others by establishing safeguards on who can access data collected by Section 702, particularly if it is a US citizen. It would also make it a crime to use loopholes to improperly access Americans’ data.
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Left: Former President Donald Trump. Right: Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson (Photo by PATRICK T. FALLON/AFP via Getty Images | Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
But conservative critics of Section 702 have argued that the bill does not go far enough to safeguard Americans’ data.
Among the Republican lawmakers who blocked the bill were: House Freedom Caucus Chairman Bob Good, R-Va.; Rep. Nancy Mace, R.S.C.; Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo.; Rep. Clay Higgins, R-Louisiana; Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas; and Rep. Matt Rosendale, R-Montana; among others.
The fight has put Johnson in a tough spot between the House Judiciary Committee and its allies, and the U.S. intelligence community and national security hawks in Congress. The former have presented Section 702 as a tool of exploitation and privacy violation, while the latter have argued that it is a narrowly focused and critical tool for preventing terrorist attacks.
Section 702 is a provision that allows the federal government to conduct warrantless surveillance of a foreign national outside the U.S. if they are suspected of having ties to terrorism, even if the person on the other end of the communications is a US citizen.
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Chairman Mike Johnson endorsed a FISA bill negotiated between the House Judiciary Committee and the House Intelligence Committee. (AP/J. Scott Applewhite)
The House Judiciary Committee backed an amendment that would force U.S. officials to seek a court order before questioning communications made by an American, which Republicans concerned about national security have largely opposed.
One Republican lawmaker compared the amendment’s effects to forcing a police officer to request a warrant before checking a license plate in his database.
They explained that if a suspected terrorist abroad communicates with a US citizen in your country, a Section 702 search would already detect their specific communications with that US citizen. The amendment would force authorities to seek a court order before viewing the content of that communication, which critics have warned could waste valuable time in the event of a serious threat.
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Former President Trump urged lawmakers to ‘KILL FISA’ (Ellen Schmidt/Las Vegas Review-Journal/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
Multiple sources told Fox News Digital that Johnson spoke out against the amendment during a closed-door meeting with his fellow House Republicans on Wednesday, drawing the ire of hardline Republicans.
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“Unfortunately, I think the speaker is getting ahead of himself, reversing his personal position 180 degrees and taking the side of Intel. I think he has, unfortunately, given up on that notion of neutrality,” said Rep. Dan Bishop, R.N.C., he told reporters.
As it stands, FISA Section 702 will expire on April 19 if Congress does not act.
