Congress faces a 10-day scramble before the statutory expiration of a powerful surveillance authority next week, after a collapse on the House floor laid bare the opposition to renewing the tool without new privacy safeguards. The early-morning votes Friday, a piercing setback for the Trump administration and House leadership, illustrated that Republicans did not have enough support to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act with no changes, something known as a clean reauthorization. In the days since, GOP leadership and privacy advocates have not publicly identified a viable compromise as the future of an essential national security tool hangs in the balance. Under a stopgap measure, the new statutory expiration date is April 30. Republican leadership and privacy hawks face a ticking clock on one of the thorniest policy debates on Capitol Hill that does not fall cleanly on partisan lines. This reauthorization cycle, program supporters want no changes while privacy advocates want to install a warrant requirement for searches of American information collected under the program. Last week, 20 House Republicans joined nearly all Democrats in sinking a procedural measure tied to a clean, 18-month reauthorization. This week, neither chamber has announced action on a bill that might make it through Congress and be signed into law. “Congress is divided on FISA because the people want PRIVACY AND SECURITY whereas their government simply wants surveillance,” Rep. Warren Davidson, an Ohio Republican who voted against the rule, posted on social media Monday. “Let Congress work its will - the will of the people.” Meanwhile in the Senate, privacy hawks are also calling for changes to the program. Sens. Mike Lee, R-Utah, and Richard J. Durbin, D-Ill, wrote in support of a warrant requirement in an op-ed in The New York Times. Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla., said in an interview with Fox News that aired on Sunday that lawmakers “have to make changes” to Section 702. The White House has appeared to acknowledge a setback. “The Administration has always recognized this is a difficult issue to reach consensus on and we remain optimistic about a path forward,” a White House official said. The flameout on the House floor also made clear that House Republicans would not be able to count on Democrats en masse to help with a procedural vote on a clean extension, with concerns among Democrats that the Trump administration could not be trusted with the surveillance power. ‘The fight isn’t over’ The debacle on the House floor early Friday outlined the hurdles to passing a clean extension, as well as a view into where lawmakers stand on the reauthorization authority. Several of the House Republicans who voted against the procedural motion tied to the clean extension also helped tank a separate proposal that would have extended the program for five years. That amendment included provisions that stipulated criminal penalties for certain acts. And while it also included a section regarding a “warrant requirement,” critics panned the language and said it was no change at all. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a longtime critic of Section 702, said both the amendment and the 18-month clean reauthorization proposal were “bad versions of FISA.” “Both would have allowed Feds to unconstitutionally spy on Americans,” Massie wrote on social media. “We stopped both versions, but the fight isn’t over. Eventually, it was decided to give them two more weeks to fix FISA.” Some House Republicans, including ones who voted against the last reauthorization bill, have come out in support of a clean renewal. One of those lawmakers is House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a staunch Trump ally who has long pushed for a Section 702 warrant requirement. Just months ago, Jordan said getting a warrant was “fundamental” when searches use an American’s name, phone number or email address. But as the Trump administration pushed for a clean 18-month reauthorization, Jordan became a key lawmaker voice urging for that goal. Jordan, at a House Rules Committee meeting last week, sold the year-and-a-half reauthorization as a “temporary, short-term extension,” and said changes instituted during the last reauthorization have mitigated past abuse in the program. He rattled off a list of past controversies with the program and said the FBI in the past did not follow its own rules. “But today, the story is totally different. Totally different,” Jordan said at the meeting. Congress has more insight than ever in the program’s operations thanks to the last reauthorization law, he said, arguing an extension makes sense now given the U.S. war in Iran and the military operation in Venezuela earlier this year. “The 702 program is incredibly important for protecting our national security and advancing our interests abroad,” Jordan said. Meanwhile, House Democrats, including some who voted for the final reauthorization bill during the last reauthorization cycle, have come out in opposition to a clean extension of the spy authority, saying the Trump administration has violated Americans privacy rights, dismantled oversight forces and showed a willingness to use sensitive data for political means. Among those urging against a clean reauthorization were Reps. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y., and Hank Johnson, D-Ga., who say the Trump administration could not be trusted to properly implement the Section 702 statute. “The question before us is not only what this Administration has done with the data it already holds, but what it could do with Section 702 authorities given its unchecked power and the troves of data that it has already amassed,” the lawmakers wrote.
