House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is facing a brewing conservative revolt ahead of a high-profile vote on reauthorizing the government’s warrantless surveillance powers.
House GOP leadership is up against an April 20 deadline to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). President Donald Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., support a clean 18-month extension of the government’s spying powers, but key conservative lawmakers want guardrails added to the program.
Rep. Lauren Boebert, R-Colo., said Tuesday that she would oppose a test vote scheduled to occur Wednesday afternoon that would advance the renewal measure to a vote on final passage. House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, R-Md., also predicted Tuesday in an interview with Punchbowl News that the test vote would fail if leadership did not tack on additional reforms demanded by GOP privacy hawks.
Section 702 permits the federal government to conduct warrantless surveillance of foreign nationals abroad, even when those individuals are communicating with American citizens.
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Conservative lawmakers — and many in the Democratic caucus — are pushing for an amendment to prohibit the warrantless surveillance of Americans. But when Democrats on the House Rules Committee tried to add an amendment from Rep. Andy Biggs, R-Ariz., incorporating warrant requirements, Republicans on the panel voted it down.
House Democrats are also not expected to supply the necessary votes during the anticipated procedural vote, which tends to be party-line. In that scenario, Johnson would be able to lose just a handful of GOP defections.
Other Republicans, including Rep. Anna Paulina Luna, R-Fla., have pledged to vote “no” unless the Trump-backed election measure, known as the SAVE America Act, is added to the bill.
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Despite potential GOP holdouts, Trump has urged Republicans to “UNIFY” during the critical votes.
The Trump administration has warned about potentially catastrophic effects for national security if lawmakers fail to renew the program, especially as the conflict with Iran continues.
In a letter to Congress on Monday, Gen. Dan Caine said that “the loss or reduction of FISA Section 702 authorities would increase risk to the Joint Force, degrade our worldwide combat lethality, and significantly impair the U.S. security.”
CIA Director John Ratcliffe attended a House GOP conference meeting on Wednesday to urge lawmakers to back a clean extension.
“There’s a lot at stake,” Ratcliffe told Fox News.
Prior FISA skeptics have also touted the more than five dozen reforms that Congress made to the program in 2024 to justify their support for a clean extension.
“In light of the progress that has been made and the threats we face, we think a temporary short-term extension of the program makes sense,” Rep. Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, said Tuesday. “But again, 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.”
Fox News’ Chad Pergram contributed to this report.
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