There are a growing number of signs that Speaker Mike Johnson’s right flank could scuttle House debate on a bill reauthorizing a controversial government surveillance authority.
Johnson has warned opponents that if they fail again this week — which would be the third time one corner of his conference has derailed the legislation — the Senate could try to jam them with an extension that makes no changes to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which targets communications by foreigners outside of the United States.
On Tuesday night, the Rules Committee voted to tee up the bill to the floor, along with votes on six amendments. The House is set to vote Wednesday to greenlight debate on legislation. Congress has until April 19 to reauthorize the wiretapping authority.
House Republicans will meet for a closed-door conference Wednesday, during which they are expected to debate the 702 bill. And if the measure makes it to the floor, it’s not actually expected to get a vote until Thursday. But it’s not clear that members of the Freedom Caucus and their allies will prevent the bill from coming to the floor, or if they are just venting their frustration at both the process and Johnson.
Aides involved with the debate believed at the start of the week that they would be able to get reauthorization legislation up for debate, and the intelligence community and its congressional allies were feeling increasingly optimistic about the chances of passing a bill this week.
But anger from the right at Johnson has grown over the last 24 hours as lawmakers reconvened in Washington for the first time in two weeks. And the Louisiana Republican can only lose two of his own members to get the bill to the floor.
The House will also get a closed-door briefing Wednesday from members of the intelligence community, giving them a chance to make the pitch directly to members on a spy authority they view as a critical national security tool.
Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has already vowed to oppose the rule if it didn’t tee up an amendment vote on a proposal to prevent data brokers from selling consumer information to law enforcement. It is not expected to get an amendment vote as part of the 702 debate, but leadership has indicated it could come up as a separate standalone this week.
“Count on me to vote against proceeding onto that legislation unless we at least have the opportunity to get votes on the things that will fix the problem. If Speaker Johnson is unwilling to fix FISA we are left wondering what he is indeed willing to fix,” Gaetz said on his podcast on Tuesday.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), who is not a member of the Freedom Caucus, said he’s “leaning against” voting for the bill to be brought to the floor, though he hadn’t totally made up his mind. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the Rules Committee, predicted the resolution teeing up debate for the spy power would fail on the floor, pointing to the number of House Republicans wearing “no spy” buttons.
And another voice in opposition emerged overnight: Former President Donald Trump, who posted on his platform Truth Social, “KILL FISA, IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS. THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN!!!”
The House bill does contain changes to FISA overall that would address concerns Trump mentioned in his post, which do not directly involve section 702. And Johnson had tried to allievate some of Trump’s previous concerns in a Friday letter, writing: “Had these safeguards been in place when President Trump was running for election in 2016, I am confident the baseless attack against his campaign would never have been possible. With this bill’s enactment, we are ensuring that can never happen again.”
