WASHINGTON– House Republicans will try again Friday to advance a bill that would reauthorize a crucial national security surveillance program, a second attempt just days after a conservative revolt blocked similar legislation from reaching the floor.
President Mike Johnson is expected to introduce a Plan B that would reform and extend a section of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act known as Section 702 for a shortened two years, instead of the proposed full five-year reauthorization initially, in hopes that the shorter timetable will sway GOP critics.
“We will try to find a way to unblock the rule. And I think it’s possible,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday evening, referring to the step needed to introduce the legislation. “I mean, there are some differences of opinion. But I think everyone – almost everyone – understands the need to do it right and do it.
It’s unclear whether Johnson, who has called the program “critical” to national security, will have the Republican support needed to move forward.
Skepticism of government spying powers has grown significantly in recent years, particularly on the right. Republicans have clashed for months over what a legislative overhaul of the surveillance program should look like, creating divisions that spilled over into the House this week as 19 Republicans broke with their party to block the bill from going forward. ‘be voted on.
However, some of the initial opponents signaled their support for the new plan Thursday evening.
“The two-year time frame is a much better landing spot because it gives us two years to see if this whole thing works rather than throwing it away for five years,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said Thursday. “They say these reforms are going to work. Well, I guess we’ll find out.”
The legislation in question would allow the U.S. government to collect, without a warrant, the communications of non-Americans located outside the country in order to gather foreign intelligence. The reauthorization is currently tied to a series of reforms aimed at satisfying critics who have complained of civil liberties violations against Americans.
But far-right opponents complain the changes don’t go far enough. The detractors include some of Johnson’s harshest critics, members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus, who have criticized the president in recent months for crossing the aisle to carry out basic government functions.
To assuage some of those critics, Johnson plans to introduce a separate proposal next week that would close a loophole that allows U.S. officials to collect data on Americans from big tech companies without a warrant.
“It all adds up to something that I think has brought greater comfort,” Roy said.
Passage of the bill by the House depends on support from the Republican Party, with Democrats on Thursday ruling out the possibility of helping Johnson break the legislation’s logjam.
Although the program is technically set to expire on April 19, the Biden administration has said it expects its intelligence collection authority to remain operational for at least another year, thanks to an earlier advisory this month by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court, which receives surveillance requests. . But officials say the court’s approval should not replace congressional authorization, especially since communications companies could stop cooperating with the government.
First authorized in 2008, the spying tool has been renewed several times since, as U.S. officials view it as crucial to disrupting terrorist attacks, cyber intrusions and foreign espionage. It also produced intelligence that the United States relied on for specific operations.
But the administration’s efforts to get the program reauthorized have repeatedly encountered fierce, bipartisan resistance, with Democrats like Sen. Ron Wyden, a long-time civil liberties advocate, aligning with Republican supporters. from former President Donald Trump, who in an article on Truth Social on Wednesday falsely stated that Section 702 was used to spy on his presidential campaign.
“Kill FISA,” Trump wrote in all caps. “It was used illegally against me and many others. They spied on my campaign. A former adviser to his 2016 presidential campaign was targeted for surveillance over his potential ties to Russia under another section of the law.
One specific area of concern for lawmakers is the FBI’s use of the vast intelligence repository to search for information about Americans and others in the United States. Although the surveillance program only targets non-Americans in other countries, it also collects Americans’ communications while they are in the United States. contact with these targeted foreigners.
Over the past year, U.S. officials have revealed a series of abuses and errors by FBI analysts in improperly querying the intelligence repository for information on Americans or others in the United States, including on a member of Congress and participants in the 2020 racial justice protests and the January 6, 2021 riot at the United States Capitol.
These violations led to the FBI being required to obtain a warrant before performing database queries on Americans, which FBI Director Chris Wray said would effectively reduce the program’s effectiveness and would be also legally unnecessary since the information in the database has already been legally obtained. collected.
“While it is imperative to ensure that this critical authority of 702 does not disappear, we must also not compromise the effectiveness of this essential tool with a warrant requirement or similar restriction, crippling our ability to do in the face of rapidly evolving threats,” Wray said. in a speech Tuesday.
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Associated Press writer Kevin Freking contributed to this report.
ABC News
