A group of House Republicans on Wednesday tanked a procedural vote to begin debate on a bill to reauthorize the nation’s warrantless surveillance powers, leaving the chamber scrambling on how to address the important spy tool before it expires next week.
Nineteen Republicans joined Democrats in voting against a rule for legislation to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), blocking the measure from advancing 193-228.
The move comes after former President Trump on Wednesday urged Republicans to “kill FISA” — throwing a wrench in an already contentious debate.
The tanked procedural vote also stymies a plan from House leadership to take up an amendment many in the GOP’s right wing say is a top priority — adding a warrant requirement to the bill.
Led by Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) and other MAGA-aligned conservatives, the vote marks yet another instance of members of the GOP tanking what is typically a routine party-line vote in protest of legislation.
Section 702 allows the government to spy on foreigners located abroad, but that surveillance also sweeps in their communications with any Americans with whom they are in contact.
The issue of whether to require a warrant to access the information on Americans caught up in the surveillance has created strange bedfellows, with some members on both sides of the aisle uniting around an amendment they see as a safeguard for Americans, and others saying it would gut the program entirely.
The law is set to expire April 19 — a deadline that comes after the House was forced to pass a short-term extension of FISA 702 in December, as Republican lawmakers failed to reach an agreement on competing bills from the House Judiciary and Intelligence committees.
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