The House unanimously adopted a two-week spy powers patch Friday morning, creating a path for Congress to head off an intelligence tool’s expiration early next week.
The move will buy GOP leaders and Republican privacy hawks more time to negotiate. It follows days of heated debate and a dramatic floor scene in the early hours of Friday, when conservatives tanked a five-year reauthorization proposed by leadership.
If the Senate does not follow suit by Monday and pass the short-term extension, the program will expire.
The backup plan emerged after the House failed to clear a procedural hurdle to move forward with the long-term deal, a major blow to GOP leadership.
The 200-220 failed amendment vote followed negotiations between leaders and conservative privacy hawks over the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702. President Donald Trump has said he favors extending it.
The House unanimously adopted a two-week spy powers patch Friday morning, creating a path for Congress to head off an intelligence tool’s expiration early next week.
House leaders and the White House initially sought a clean 18-month extension of the spy powers, which allows US agencies to collect the communications of foreigners abroad. But a coalition of conservatives and progressives warned the law opens the door to warrant less searches of Americans’ communications with foreigners and used those concerns to derail it.
Republican leaders had hoped compromise legislation released late Thursday would attract enough bipartisan support. The deal included some new warrant rules sought by privacy hawks and extended the program by five years, a longer window than leaders initially sought. But a number of GOP rebels tanked the amendment that carried that five-year language.
(Updates with details of two-week FISA extension.)
To contact the reporters on this story:
To contact the editor responsible for this story: