House will try again on reauthorization of US spy program after Republican upheaval
WASHINGTON — House Republicans will try again on Friday to advance a bill that would reauthorize a crucial national security surveillance program. A second attempt came just days after a conservative uprising prevented similar legislation from reaching the floor.
Speaker Mike Johnson is expected to put forward a Plan B that would reform and extend a portion of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act known as Section 702 for a shortened two-year period, instead of the full five-year reauthorization that came first was proposed, hoping the shorter timeline will sway GOP critics.
“We’re going to try to find a way to unlock the rule. And I think it is possible,” Johnson told reporters on Wednesday evening, referring to the step needed to bring the legislation to the table. “I mean, there are some disagreements. But I think everyone – almost everyone – understands the need to get this right and get it done.”
It is unclear whether Johnson, who has called the program “critical” to national security, will get the Republican support needed to move forward.
Skepticism about the government’s spying powers has increased dramatically in recent years, especially on the right. Republicans have clashed for months over what a legislative overhaul of the surveillance program should look like, creating divisions that spilled over into the House of Representatives this week when 19 Republicans broke with their party to prevent the bill from being debated would be voted on.
However, some of the original opponents expressed support for the new plan late Thursday.
“The two-year time frame is a much better landing spot because it gives us two years to see if this all works, rather than throwing it out for five years,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, Thursday. “They say these reforms will work. Well, I guess we’ll find out.’
The legislation in question would allow the U.S. government to collect, without a warrant, the communications of non-Americans who are outside the country to gather foreign intelligence. The reauthorization is currently tied to a series of reforms aimed at appeasing critics who complained about civil liberties violations against Americans.
But far-right opponents have complained that those changes did not go far enough. The opponents include some of Johnson’s fiercest critics, members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, who have protested the speaker in recent months for reaching across the aisle to carry out the basic functions of government.
To appease some of those critics, Johnson plans to introduce a separate proposal next week that would close a loophole that allows U.S. officials to collect data on Americans from big tech companies without a warrant.
“It all added up to something that I think was more comforting,” Roy said.
House approval is dependent on support from the Republican Party, as Democrats on Thursday ruled out helping Johnson break the legislative deadlock.
Although the program technically expires on April 19, the Biden administration has said it expects its intelligence collection authority to remain operational for at least another year, thanks to an advisory earlier this month from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which receives surveillance requests . . But officials say court approval should not be a substitute for congressional approval, especially because communications companies could stop working with the government.
The spy tool was first approved in 2008 and has been renewed several times since, as U.S. officials see it as crucial in disrupting terror attacks, cyber intrusions and foreign espionage. It has also provided intelligence that the US has relied on for specific operations.
But the administration’s efforts to secure the program’s reauthorization have repeatedly been met with fierce and bipartisan opposition, with Democrats like Sen. Ron Wyden having long advocated for civil liberties and joining Republican supporters of former President Donald Trump , who falsely stated in a post on Truth Social on Wednesday that Section 702 had been used to spy on his presidential campaign.
“Kill FISA,” Trump wrote in all caps. “It was used illegally against me and many others. They spied on my campaign.” A former adviser to his 2016 presidential campaign was being monitored under a different section of the law over possible ties to Russia.
Of particular concern to lawmakers is the FBI’s use of its vast intelligence repository to seek information about Americans and others in the US. Although the surveillance program only targets non-Americans in other countries, it also collects communications from Americans when they are in the US. contact with the intended foreigners.
Over the past year, US officials have exposed a series of abuses and errors by FBI analysts in improperly searching the intelligence repository for information about Americans or others in the US, including a member of Congress and participants in the protests against racial justice of 2020 and the January 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol.
These violations have led to demands for the FBI to issue a warrant before conducting database queries on Americans, which FBI Director Chris Wray has warned would effectively diminish the effectiveness of the program and would also be legally unnecessary the fact that the information in the database has already been lawfully released. collected.
“While it is imperative that we ensure that this critical 702 authority does not lapse, we must also not undermine the effectiveness of this vital tool with a command requirement or similar restriction, thereby crippling our ability to address fast-moving threats ,” Wray said. in a speech Tuesday.
___
Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.