House passes bill to extend controversial surveillance program
In the wee hours of Friday morning, the U.S. House passed a bill to temporarily extend a controversial surveillance program used by American intelligence agencies.
Shortly after 2 a.m. ET lawmakers approved a stopgap measure to keep the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, from expiring on Monday. It would extend the deadline by 10 days, until April 30.
The move buys time for negotiations as Congress remains divided over Section 702, which allows the federal government to collect communications of foreigners abroad, including messages involving Americans, without a warrant.
President Donald Trump has pushed for a clean, 18-month extension with no changes. That effort stalled, with 20 Republicans joining most Democrats to block it Thursday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson has been working to follow through on the president’s wishes, but has been largely unsuccessful.
The Senate still needs to approve the short-term extension before the deadline.
Debate over privacy
Opponents of Section 702 have raised concerns over past misuses. Court documents have shown that FBI officials repeatedly violated it when investigating the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the U.S. Capitol and Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.
The Trump administration argues Section 702 is vital to protecting the U.S. from “hostile foreign adversaries, including terrorists, proliferators, and spies, and to inform cybersecurity efforts.”
Those advocating for changes are calling for warrant requirements and harsher penalties.
“We want to make sure that there’s greater penalties, for example, for government officials who abuse their authority and power,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told ABC News.
Some lawmakers also want to use the bill to keep the government from buying data from brokers if getting the information directly from Americans would require a warrant.
Longer extension fails
Shortly before midnight GOP leaders announced a new proposal.
Before the final 10-day extension passed, Republican lawmakers introduced a revised five-year extension plan. The changes included new provisions saying only FBI attorneys can authorize the access of Americans’ communications and a requirement that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence review those cases.
The changes weren’t enough for the holdouts. A handful of Democrats tried to help Republicans advance longer extensions, but most Democrats were against them.
Effects not immediate
Even if FISA does lapse on April 30, the effects won’t be immediate.
Last month, an intelligence court authorized the program to keep operating through March 2027. That authorization remains in effect even if FISA ends, in an effort to prevent data lapses.
However, last time FISA was up for renewal the Biden administration warned a lapse could lead some tech companies to stop cooperating, creating gaps in data collection anyway, according to the New York Times.
Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
