A debate over extending a controversial federal espionage power has sown disagreement between House leadership, a band of conservative rebels, and the White House.
On April 20, Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which enables the government to spy on foreigners without a warrant, is set to expire.
The program, which was last extended by Congress in 2024, has long been criticized by some House Republicans, who argue it is prone to abuse and has resulted in the surveillance of American citizens.
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., as well as House Judiciary committee chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, argue Congress has already substantially reformed the program, which they consider important for national security.
“All the abuses happened when Democrats were in the White House,” Jordan said Tuesday.
Hardliner conservatives on the House rules committee—a leadership-controlled panel that sets the conditions for debate of bills on the floor—allowed the extension bill to advance on Tuesday night.
They did so after Trump called on Republicans on Truth Social “to UNIFY, and vote together on the test vote to bring a clean [extension] to the floor.”
However, on Wednesday morning, FISA critics indicated they would still not support extending Section 702 without additional reforms, despite having allowed it to advance.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a rules committee member, said conservatives wanted “greater protections for citizens with respect to warrants,” as well as “greater penalties… for government officials who abuse their authority and power.”
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., told The Daily Signal he had reservations about the secrecy of FISA courts, which authorize government surveillance.
“I never had a really good feeling about a secret judge situation that’s not open to the public. I like transparency.” Burchett said. “It’s been abused in the past. I know they’ve reduced the rate lately.”
Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) Director John Ratcliffe joined House Republicans’ Wednesday morning conference meeting to make the pitch for extending FISA.
Rep. Rick Crawford, R-Ark., who chairs the House intelligence committee, reiterated after the conference meeting his desire to extend the program, while saying there is “possibly” room for changes to FISA.
“What I’m trying to do is make sure that national security is protected,” Crawford told reporters.
Multiple FISA holdouts indicated they agreed with Ratcliffe and the administration on the importance of the program, but still desired reforms.
“Nobody’s debating the validity of whether FISA’s important or not,” Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, told The Daily Signal. “The problem is the abuses we’ve seen in the past.”
“We understand and agree with the president that we need 702 authority to go after bad guys abroad,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told reporters.
“We’re fighting for greater protections, whether it’s this administration or future administrations, to ensure citizens have projections,” Roy added.
Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., who chairs the House Freedom Caucus, acknowledged the disagreement between his faction and the president.
“Look, [Trump’s] the executive, we’re the legislative, and we’re going to see a little bit of conflict between those two today,” said Harris.
By the early afternoon, leaders indicated they needed more time to find consensus.
“We might have to do some sort of minor modification,” Speaker Johnson told a Punchbowl News reporter, citing “a few holdouts who have some ideas on what they think would be improvements to” FISA.
Johnson later indicated he believed the vote would be the following day.
Democrats made Republican leadership’s job more difficult by standing against the bill.
Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., the top Democrat on the judiciary committee, urged his colleagues to vote against a clean extension on Tuesday, calling for “independent guardrails.”
Over 50 Democrats also signed on to a letter in opposition to a clean extension, lowering the chances of being able to rely on Democrat votes.
In March, a court granted the annual recertification of the 702 program, so it would not immediately end if Congress does not act to extend the underlying legislation. Rather, it would expire in March 2027.
