Nineteen far-right members objected Wednesday to a procedural hurdle known as a rule, preventing FISA and three other proposals from being debated and ultimately voted on this week.
Hardliners had telegraphed that they would defeat the procedural vote if the House Rules Committee did not include legislative changes aimed at reshaping how these services monitor bad foreign actors, ensuring what they do not spy on American citizens captured in the country. collection of communications without warrant.
And they may have been emboldened by a social media post Wednesday morning from former President Donald Trump denouncing FISA.
“KILL FISA, IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME AND MANY OTHERS. THEY SPY ON MY CAMPAIGN!!!” he wrote about Truth Social.
Trump supporters falsely claim that without reforms, the “militarized” Justice Department under President Biden will continue to operate. to target Trump and other conservatives. However, spy agencies do not have the authority to surveil U.S. citizens under FISA.
Asked whether Trump’s influence was harming the reauthorization process, Johnson (R-La.) told reporters: “I’ll just say it’s never helpful for the majority party to remove their own rules. »
The FISA vote marks the seventh time this year that Republicans have ignored the rules before legislation can pass. The tactic is now common after the majority overcame procedural hurdles without action for two decades, raising questions about the Republican Party’s ability to govern and Johnson’s control over its rank-and-file members. Historically, the majority has supported the adoption of rules allowing for floor debate, even if it opposes a bill upon final passage. The issue led Johnson to push through substantive “suspension timetable” legislation, where he relies on a two-thirds majority, including Democrats, to pass it.
Figuring out how to reauthorize FISA as privacy and national security battle within the House GOP conference poses trickier calculations for Johnson. Yet his presidency hangs in the balance as Rep. Marjorie Taylor-Greene (R-Ga.) and other far-right members of the House Freedom Caucus debate whether it’s worth ousting him based on how which he is navigating legislation that would reauthorize FISA and send additional appropriations. funding to foreign allies like Ukraine and Israel.
Republicans left their second party meeting on FISA on Wednesday without agreeing on a path forward. The hour-long gathering was described by lawmakers as “tense,” “a venting session” and “a shit show.” Several Republicans blasted their colleagues for their opposition to the rule, which froze all legislative action this week.
Rep. Tom McClintock (R-Calif.) was the most vocal critic, calling on leaders to reimpose standards that would result in sanctions against more than two dozen Republicans who voted against it. These procedural motions are essential to House government.
“You restore the principle, and then you impose sanctions on those who violate that principle,” McClintock later told reporters. “It could affect committee missions, it could affect their membership in the Republican conference.”
According to several people in the room, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to detail a private meeting, Johnson was forceful in his reminder. that abandoning the rule does not mean that FISA will not ultimately be renewed. But the fight is also delaying a key vote on funding for Ukraine, scheduled for next week.
Johnson had planned for the reauthorization — which currently does not include the tenure provision requested by hard-liners and proposed by Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) — to go before the Rules Committee this week and allow the votes on several bills that may be amended before final passage. But on Wednesday, the Rules Committee did not adopt Davidson’s proposal, with leaders promising a standalone vote at a later date.
Both FISA and Ukraine have violently Republicans are divided, unable to find consensus as the far right pushes for ideological purity in bills that must also be approved by a Democratic Senate and the White House.
“He is the leader of the opposition party against the Biden administration, and we expect him to lead that way, not to push through the Biden administration’s agenda,” Greene said afterward. having met with Johnson earlier Wednesday. Greene – who supported the rule but intends to vote against final adoption – threatens to propose a motion to oust the president if he introduces legislation to fund Ukraine or fails to include provision for a warrant in the final FISA legislation.
At the meeting, she pushed the speaker to halt consideration of the current FISA bill, a warning he ignored.
“If he funds the deep state and warrantless spying on Americans, he is telling Republican voters across the country that this persistent behavior will happen more, spying on President Trump and spying on hundreds of thousands of Americans ” she said. “This will not be tolerated by Republicans.”
Those on the far right were upset that Johnson, a self-described MAGA Republican, changed course on policy issues he had previously voted against.
Johnson told reporters that he supported warrant reform as a member of the Judiciary Committee after seeing the FBI’s “terrible abuses” of the matter. But as a speaker, he now has the highest levels of intelligence and has come to “understand the need for Section 702 of FISA and its importance to national security.”
“It gave me a different perspective,” he said. “It’s part of the process, you have to be fully informed.”
The divisions over FISA reauthorization stem from a debate over whether to amend Section 702 of the legislation. The post-9/11 provision gave U.S. spy agencies the ability to monitor only noncitizens abroad suspected of threatening national security. At issue is whether spy agencies can analyze the communications of Americans who may have interacted with the foreign threat, something privacy advocates on the far right and left view as unconstitutional.
Many Republicans are considering reforming FISA, recognizing that spy agencies have sometimes abused their authority. But far-right members appear to have misinterpreted the agency’s powers, often speaking in platitudes and falsely accusing U.S. agencies of deliberately spying on Americans. National security hawks have criticized their colleagues for not understanding how Section 702 works and say requiring such warrants would seriously affect the agencies’ ability to thwart possible terrorist activity.
The two factions have been feuding over the issue for months, leading Republican Party leaders to twice delay consideration of the measures and pass extensions preventing the reauthorization from expiration.
Without a solution, House Republicans have expressed displeasure that they will ultimately have to pass another FISA extension without changes or pass any bipartisan bill sent by the Senate. Those further to the right favor abandoning FISA instead of supporting any measure that does not include their demands.
“Anyone who supports shutting down FISA and blinding us to terrorist threats will also be responsible for future calamities that are sure to come if we let our guard down,” wrote Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) in a statement following the failure of the House. vote.
Mariana Alfaro and Paul Kane contributed to this report.
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