House GOP leadership faced a setback Wednesday in their push to reauthorize a key surveillance authority with no changes, amid signs they did not have enough support from privacy-minded conservatives to clear a procedural vote on the floor. Key House Republicans had outlined a floor strategy to pass a measure that would extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act for 18 months, as they looked to act before the program’s statutory authority expires next week. Lawmakers had been expected to vote Wednesday on a rule to set guidelines for floor debate. Rule votes are typically party line. But in a sign of trouble, the House postponed debate on the rule. When floor votes were called midday, the rule tied to the Section 702 extension still had not been brought up for debate, the clearest sign there was not enough support within the GOP conference. By around 5 p.m., the House adjourned without any action on the rule. Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., an advocate for adding more privacy protections to the Section 702 program, said there are discussions going on over how to move forward. “I think the discussions are really productive, and I think they're going to be fruitful,” Biggs said. “And as soon as that happens — everybody gets on the same page — I think we'll be ready to go.” Leadership had not made any official announcement about when a vote on Section 702 might happen. The episode once again exposed rifts among the House Republican Conference when it comes to Section 702, particularly over the issue of privacy protections for Americans. The program allows the U.S. government to collect digital communications of foreigners located outside the country. But Section 702 is controversial because it also sweeps up the communications of Americans and allows the FBI to search through data without a warrant, using information such as an email address. The House Rules Committee, after a long recess Tuesday night, ultimately approved a rule for floor consideration of the measure that does not leave room for amendments. Notably, conservative Reps. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Morgan Griffith, R-Va., were absent from the committee vote on the rule. House lawmakers, some heading to a House GOP conference meeting Wednesday morning, expressed uncertainty about what would happen later in the day and whether there were enough votes to adopt the rule. “We should. We’ll see,” said House Intelligence Chairman Rick Crawford, R-Ark., who is pushing for a "clean" reauthorization. When asked what might be offered to some of the Republicans who might vote against the rule, Crawford said: “That’s between me and the GOP holdouts.” Rep. French Hill, R-Ark., entering the conference meeting, said: “I’m coming down here to hear what the plan is.” Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, who has called for a warrant requirement, was among those who said he didn’t think Republicans had the votes to adopt the rule. “I don’t think we’re close to passing a rule,” Cloud said Wednesday morning. “There’s a lot of people not happy with where we’re at.” House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said “we’ll find out” if a rule would be adopted Wednesday. He expressed confidence that lawmakers would pass a Section 702 reauthorization by April 20, when the statutory authority expires. Jordan said he’s making the case for reauthorizing it now, considering the changes that happened in the last reauthorization, even though he previously backed changing the program to include a warrant requirement. “It’s a whole different program now. Look, it’s [a] short-term reauthorization,” Jordan said. “We’re talking months instead of years.” “So I’m comfortable when the commander in chief asks for that in the middle of [a] military operation in Iran,” Jordan said. And if there are problems with the program, he said, lawmakers can continue to do oversight. President Donald Trump asserted Tuesday in a social media post that the House should pass a clean extension of the law, but some conservative Republicans took issue with the approach and want to see amendments to address a number of privacy concerns. Lia Chen and Erika Chan contributed to this report.
