Speaker Johnson urges competing factions to back House’s FISA bill

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) is pitching his colleagues on the House’s latest proposal to expand warrantless state surveillance powers, warning of a looming deadline and the risk of Senate intervention.

The Reform Intelligence and Surveillance Act announced Friday extends Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows the government to spy on noncitizens living overseas.

Johnson sought to win support from MPs who have repeatedly blocked the tool’s progress by pitching it as a reform bill that would “strictly prohibit future abuse” of the tool.

The bill is largely consistent with a February proposal that nearly passed the House and would significantly change how agencies such as the FBI review information about Americans collected while surveilling people overseas. There are restrictions.

But while it does not include the warrant requirement that privacy advocates had called for, opponents, led by members of the House Intelligence Committee, argue that delays that prevent intelligence agents from responding to threats in real time It warns that it will happen.

The bill stalled multiple times due to bickering between the two sides, and the House was forced to pass a short extension of the authority in December. And plans to bring the bill to the floor in February were blocked when the House Intelligence Committee objected to attempts to add extraneous items to the bill.

Mr Johnson praised the “benefits” of law enforcement and Intel leaders, but[ing] “We will work together to create an extraordinary bill,” he said, revealing the risks if opposing sides do not come together to support the bill.

“It is critical that these reforms succeed next week as FISA section 702 powers expire on April 19th. If our bill is defeated, we face an impossible choice. “We expect the Senate to come up with a clean extension with no reform at all,” Johnson wrote.

“That is clearly an unacceptable option.”

Several competing FISA 702 bills were also introduced in the Senate, including one that would require a court order before reviewing information collected about Americans.

Johnson also pointed to a provision in the House bill that addresses another section of the FISA law that deals with domestic surveillance, including reforms that would prevent surveillance of Trump campaign aide Carter Page. He called it a “baseless attack on the Trump campaign.” ”

The House Rules Committee is scheduled to consider the bill Tuesday afternoon, and all members will be invited to a confidential conference with intelligence officials on Wednesday.

Under the law, FBI supervisors and attorneys would now have to approve investigators’ inquiries that may involve U.S. citizens, but the numbers were lower than the 702 that agents chose to search in the database. There has been a significant decrease since the transition of the FBI search portal.

It also requires an after-action review of all 702 questions asked by Americans.

Administration officials who met with reporters on Friday made clear the urgency underlying Congress’ consideration of the bill, arguing that lawmakers were off the rails on violating the bill and rejecting the idea of ​​another short-term extension. did.

“Whether intelligence and law enforcement can trust essential authorities should not be lightly debated and questioned every three months. This is irresponsible on the part of Congress to do its job of helping us in the executive branch protect the American people,” a senior administration official told reporters.