House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) is demanding the removal of acting Director of National Intelligence Bill Pulte from his post in exchange for supporting an extension of a government spy tool set to lapse this week.
“Reversing the Bill Pulte appointment is a starting point, not an ending point,” Jeffries said. “It’s a step in the right direction, because it reverses something that is clearly out of bounds, unacceptable, and cannot be allowed to occur.”
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) told reporters he did not believe that reversing Pulte’s appointment was a “necessary requirement of passing FISA,” and that anyone calling for it in exchange for an extension of the spy tool is “playing with a dangerous situation.”
Democratic support will be crucial to getting an extension of the government spy program across the finish line. Over 90 House Democrats, including Jeffries, crossed party lines to support a short-term extension back in April. That extension is set to lapse on June 12, and without Democratic support for another deal, Johnson will have a difficult path in getting an extension passed on the House floor given opposition from GOP hard-liners.
Already, a Senate deal to extend Section 702 for three years was upended last week after almost all Democrats, except for Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA), pulled their support over President Donald Trump’s appointment of Pulte as acting intelligence chief.
The failure to advance the Senate’s extension of Section 702 is the latest roadblock in a monthslong battle to pass a long-term deal for the government surveillance program. Congress has had to pass two short-term extensions this year to keep the program viable, with the House passing three deals, one of which was rejected by the Senate.
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Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said Friday the upper chamber will “take another run at” renewing the spy program ahead of the June 12 deadline, but acknowledged Republicans will need “some help from Democrats.”
Democratic support will ultimately be necessary to overcome the chamber’s 60-vote filibuster threshold. But Democrats are withholding their support over Pulte’s nomination, arguing he has used his tenure as director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and chairman of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to make criminal referrals against Trump political opponents for alleged mortgage fraud.
