Bill would have extended warrantless surveillance of foreigners and U.S. citizens overseas for 5 years.
The House of Representatives blocked House Speaker Mike Johnson’s push to bring the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) reauthorization bill to the floor on Wednesday.
The vote to block the rule providing for House floor consideration of the bill was 228 to 193.
The “Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act” would have extended Section 702 of FISA, which allows intelligence agencies to monitor the communications of foreigners and U.S. citizens overseas without a warrant, for 5 years.
A group of amendments to the bill that included a warrant requirement had cleared the Rules Committee Tuesday night.
“19 Republicans stood strong and defeated the FISA bill today, instead insisting on real reform to FISA (no secret courts should be allowed to spy on Americans),” Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) posted on X.
19 Republicans stood strong and defeated the FISA bill today, instead insisting on real reform to FISA (no secret courts should be allowed to spy on Americans). https://t.co/uUNf8FkAVA
— Rand Paul (@RandPaul) April 10, 2024
Shortly before the vote, former President Trump posted on Truth Social that the GOP should “kill FISA.”
Johnson agreed with Trump’s criticism of FISA before the vote but insisted his bill would eliminate the potential for warrantless surveillance abuse.
“I look forward to talking with him about it. Here’s the thing about FISA, he’s not wrong, of course, they abused FISA,” Johnson said, referring to the launch of the Russia collusion probe. “These reforms would actually kill the abuses that allowed President Trump’s campaign to be spied on.”
Predictably, former Attorney General Bill Barr and former CIA Director Mike Pompeo defended Section 702 of FISA on Wednesday as a “critical national security tool has allowed the United States to counter our adversaries like China and Russia and thwarted numerous terrorist attacks from ISIS and al Qaeda.”
“The continuation of FISA, bolstered by essential reforms to further protect American civil liberties from cases of misuse and exploitation, is pivotal in securing our country against existing and emerging threats while upholding the core principles of our democracy,” they wrote.
