House Democrats helped Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) overcome a GOP rebellion on Wednesday to pass a three-year extension of a key government surveillance program that allows warrantless wiretapping of noncitizens.
In a bipartisan vote, the House voted 235-191 to reauthorize section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The measure only passed because of Democratic support.
Given the narrow House majority and absences, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) could only afford to lose one Republican vote on the measure. Overall, 22 Republicans voted against the measure, but those defections were offset by 42 Democrats voting in favor.
The passage of the three-year extension of the spy program is a significant victory for Johnson, who has worked for over a month to strike a deal with privacy hawks and members of the House Intelligence Committee.
Rep. Jim Himes (D-CT), the ranking member of the intelligence panel, was one of the 42 Democrats to cross the floor and vote for the three-year extension.
The House-passed deal does not include a warrant requirement as privacy hawks called for, but does include new oversight guardrails and penalties for abusing the spy tool. But GOP holdouts secured a notable concession from leadership, who agreed to a ban on central bank digital currency before sending the legislation to the Senate.
GOP holdouts, including members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, were clamoring for a digital currency ban to be included in any FISA extension in order for them to support the legislation.
However, with the ban attached, the House-passed extension of section 702 of FISA is expected to have an uphill battle in the Senate.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said earlier this week that any FISA deal that attaches a ban on CBDC would be dead on arrival in the upper chamber, making a lapse of the government spy program likely.
However, Thune also told reporters that Congress needs a “longer-term solution in place” regarding FISA and that the Senate would have to “play the hand” it is dealt.
Following the passage of a procedural rule to advance the extension of the spy program, Johnson told reporters that the Senate “knows exactly” what the House is doing regarding an extension of Section 702.
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“I speak with Leader Thune all of the time,” Johnson said. “They’re watching this very closely, and hopefully they can process what we send them. No one wants — no one on the Republican side anyway — wants to play around with letting these critical national security tools go unfunded or expire.”
The FISA program is set to expire on Thursday unless both chambers can pass an agreement to extend the government surveillance program.
Ramsey Touchberry contributed to this report.
