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President Donald Trump’s push to extend the government’s controversial warrantless surveillance powers suffered a minor setback early Friday morning after a group of conservative lawmakers rejected a compromise deal that would have extended the program for five years while incorporating some minor reforms intended to appease GOP privacy hawks.
Shortly before 2 a.m. Friday, the House of Representatives approved a two-week extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), giving lawmakers until April 30 to reach a deal.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., voiced confidence that his conference can come to an agreement by the end of the month.
“We were very close tonight. There’s some nuances with the language and some questions that need to be answered and we’ll get it done. The extension allows us the time to do that,” he said.
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The short-term FISA extension came together after House GOP leadership was forced to scrap an initial 18-month extension of the program due to opposition from conservatives, who want more privacy guardrails added to the program.
GOP privacy hawks also shot down a compromise agreement that would have extended the surveillance law until 2031 while adding more stringent criminal penalties for violations of FISA searches.
The Section 702 authority allows the government to spy on foreign nationals abroad even when those communications involve Americans. Both conservatives and progressives have pushed for a requirement that would force officials to obtain a warrant before reviewing Americans’ data.
House GOP leadership had been racing this week to renew the surveillance law before the April 20 deadline. When their desired approach ran into conservative opposition on the House floor, they settled for a two-week extension.
The Senate could pass the short-term extension by unanimous consent as early as Friday.
“What we’re trying to do is thread the needle of ensuring that we have this essential tool to keep Americans safe but also safeguard constitutional rights and making sure that the abuses of FISA in the past are no longer possible,” Johnson said early Friday morning.
The speaker could spare just two GOP defections during the test votes assuming all members are present and voting. Though many Democrats were supportive of a clean FISA reauthorization bill, Johnson could not count on their support during the procedural votes because they typically vote along party lines.
The Trump administration has argued the spying authority must be renewed to prevent potential terrorist attacks on the homeland and that it would be reckless to let the program lapse amid conflict with Iran.
“There’s a lot at stake,” CIA Director John Ratcliffe told Fox News during a visit to Capitol Hill in an effort to sell GOP holdouts on a clean extension.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Chairman Gen. Dan Caine sent a letter, obtained by Fox News Digital, to Capitol Hill offices touting the surveillance tool’s importance for national security. Trump also publicly urged Republicans to “UNIFY” behind his desired approach of a clean extension on Truth Social.
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House GOP leadership’s and the Trump administration’s lobbying for a clean FISA extension absent reforms proved to be a tough sell among some conservatives. Despite the high-profile pressure campaign, GOP privacy hawks remained insistent on including a warrant requirement, which they argued would better protect Americans’ data.
“We understand and agree with the president that we need 702 authority to go after bad guys abroad,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told reporters. “We’re fighting for greater protections, whether it’s this administration or future administrations to ensure citizens have protections.”
“The folks who are saying we want these reforms within FISA, we mean what we say, and that’s not something that we’re going to sidestep,” Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., said Thursday.
“We’re always threatened … that something very bad is going to happen, people will die if we don’t reauthorize 702,” Boebert continued. “But many men and women, thousands have died for the Fourth Amendment, and I’m going to continue to stand up and protect that Fourth Amendment right for all American citizens.”
Democrats also slammed the compromise deal early Friday morning for being drafted at the eleventh hour and argued the warrant requirement included in the since-rejected FISA deal is effectively toothless.
“This simply says they may seek a warrant. They don’t have to. They may seek a warrant,” Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said, referring to the FBI. “In other words, this provision is meaningless. It just returns us to exactly where we were.”
Despite a swath of GOP holdouts, fewer Republicans opposed a clean extension of the 702 program than during previous legislative fights over the spying law.
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Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, a FISA skeptic, backed a straight reauthorization, citing more than five dozen reforms that Congress made to the program in 2024.
“2026 is not 2024 and a short-term clean extension of the 702 part of FISA law is an acceptable outcome for the situation that we find ourselves in,” Jordan said Tuesday.
House GOP leadership argued that failure is not an option in preventing a reauthorization lapse for the FISA program.
“This is an essential tool for national security,” Johnson told Fox News on Wednesday. “We cannot allow it to expire, and we won’t.”
Fox News’ Kelly Phares contributed to this report.
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