Republican defection thwarts Trump’s efforts to expand warrantless surveillance

House Speaker Mike Johnson called a vote late on Friday night, calling on lawmakers to return after midnight to push for the election results to be upheld. surveillance plan This allows federal agents to read Americans’ communications without a search warrant. Twenty Republicans broke ranks and struck down the bill, a sharp rebuke to Johnson and President Donald Trump who have spent a week personally fighting with diehards to support the bill.

The failed vote ended weeks of bipartisan resistance to a sweeping reauthorization of the surveillance program authorized under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. 702 Plan Allowed Communication eavesdropping Ostensibly belonging to foreigners abroad, it has also been known to intercept large amounts of Americans’ emails, text messages, phone calls and other data – often private messages sent by the FBI and other agencies No search warrant is required to enter.

Congressional authorization of the program is set to expire on Tuesday. The White House and Republican leadership have spent weeks pressing for a “clean” reauthorization, resisting a bipartisan coalition of House Freedom Caucus Republicans and progressive Democrats demanding that the FBI obtain search warrants before searching Americans’ information and asking Congress to ban the government from buying Americans’ personal data. from business broker.

minority democrats Led by Congressman Jim Himes The Democratic leader of the House Intelligence Committee in Connecticut has joined the White House in lobbying against the new restrictions.

House Republicans resisted twice in the early hours of Friday and ultimately defeated the bill. Shortly after 1 a.m. ET, a dozen Republicans joined nearly all Democrats Amendment to kill leadership support This would extend Section 702 for another five years.

this amendment Contains a provision that is essentially a sham search warrant requirement. It would ban communications from government officials that “knowingly” target Americans without a search warrant — an action already prohibited by law. It also provides the government with a search warrant avenue if agents have probable cause to suspect that the subject is an agent of a foreign power—a foreign power that already exists independently of the Section 702 program and functionally adds nothing new to the law.

this final blow Just after 2 a.m., 20 Republicans voted again to kill the original version of the bill, which sought to shorten the deadline by 18 months. The 20 votes came almost entirely from the House Freedom Caucus and the party’s liberal wing, including caucus chair Andy Harris of Maryland; Thomas Massey of Kentucky; Chip Roy of Texas; Warren Davidson of Ohio; and Lauren Boebert of Colorado.

In a rare defeat in a procedural vote that usually runs along party lines, Republican leaders extended the voting period by just 10 days, pushing the fight to the end of the month. The House defeat leaves the Senate to grapple with next questions, starting with whether to approve an extension next week.

The failed vote came after the Trump administration spent a week trying to appease Republicans who objected to the FBI’s history of unauthorized access and its documented inquiry into data. for political purposes. Trump hosted Freedom Caucus holdouts at the White House on Tuesday to try to reach a deal. Meanwhile, two former senior Biden officials briefed Democrats on Monday, urging them to support an extension, according to a person familiar with the situation.

The FBI used Section 702 data to conduct unauthorized interviews with a U.S. senator, 19,000 donors to congressional campaigns, Black Lives Matter protesters and both sides of the Jan. 6 Capitol attack, according to declassified court rulings and government transparency reports.