Lawmakers are struggling to come to an agreement on an extension of government spy powers, putting the key surveillance at risk just two days before it is set to expire.
The House is expected to vote this week on a three-year extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, a decades-old law that allows intelligence agencies to collect communications of foreign targets located outside the United States without needing a traditional warrant. However, that bill is currently in limbo as different GOP factions threaten to tank the legislation.
The House reconvened on Tuesday morning, recessing only minutes after as GOP leaders work to break through some stalemates among their rank and file. Initial schedules sent out this week slated the FISA extension for Tuesday night, but that could be pushed as lawmakers fail to come to an agreement.
House Republicans met late Monday night as party leaders sought to convince some of their most stubborn members to accept their plan to reauthorize Section 702 with minimal reforms — the same proposal that was tanked late last week. But a group of hard-line conservatives have remained staunchly opposed to the bill, arguing they need to see much stronger reforms before they can accept a deal.
Those conservatives have offered a number of amendments to the bill — such as warrant requirements, shorter extension time frame or bans on creating a central bank digital currency — but those have not been added to the legislative text.
Meanwhile, Democrats are wary of bailing out their GOP colleagues even if they support the underlying bill.
“After waiting around all night for Republicans to make a deal — with themselves — on a procedural rule for the week, Democrats showed up to the Rules Committee for an 8 a.m. meeting. Unsurprisingly, when we showed up, we were told there is still no deal,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee that determines which bills come to the floor. “Their chaos is only matched by their incompetence.”
Lawmakers are racing against the clock to reauthorize Section 702 in some capacity before it expires after midnight on Thursday. If the program were to go dark, intelligence agencies would lose their authority to collect foreign intelligence, which officials say would cause a major intelligence gap.
Senate leaders are watching their House colleagues closely, suggesting they are prepared to take over FISA negotiations if their counterparts in the lower chamber can’t come to an agreement. The Senate was scheduled to take a procedural vote on its own three-year FISA extension on Tuesday, but that vote was postponed.
“We’re trying, as best we can, to coordinate strategy with the House, but, you know, it’s a unique situation. You’ve got very narrow margins and people with real strong opinions,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., told reporters on Tuesday. “It’s going to take, I think, the heavy involvement of the White House to bust some of these things loose.”
It’s not clear what, if any, FISA extension proposal the Senate would put forward — and whether it would be a clean reauthorization or it if would include reforms. Some senators, including Utah Sen. Mike Lee, have pushed for increased oversight to be included in whatever extension is approved.
“For too long, Congress has habitually reauthorized Section 702 without significant reforms,” Lee wrote in a joint op-ed with Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., last week. “Congress should not needlessly rush to extend this authority without the American people and their elected representatives knowing the full truth about the extent of ongoing abuses and compliance failures.”