The Republican-controlled House approved a three-year extension of a foreign intelligence surveillance program under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, advancing the measure toward the Senate and President Donald Trump even as lawmakers signaled uncertainty about longer-term passage. The chamber passed the bill 235-191, with a large group of Democrats joining most Republicans for the vote ahead of a Friday expiration.
Speaker Mike Johnson framed the program as vital to national security, saying, “Two-thirds of the president’s daily national security briefing comes from intelligence collected by that statute,” and adding, “We cannot allow it to go dark.” The House vote marked a breakthrough for Republican leaders after the chamber had been unable to pass a long-term extension earlier this month, following a hectic late-night effort in which multiple bills failed on the floor.
The House debate focused on what critics consider a central weakness in the renewal: a FISA provision that allows agencies such as the CIA, National Security Agency, and FBI to collect and analyze communications from foreign targets without a warrant. Critics have said the approach can incidentally sweep up communications involving Americans who interact with foreign targets, an element that lawmakers opposed.
Republican Rep. Chip Roy argued for adding a warrant requirement, saying Tuesday, “The intel community always just comes in and says, ‘People will die if you do this,’” and “Well, I’m sorry. A lot of Americans died to give us and protect that Fourth Amendment right that we don’t have government looking at our stuff.” The House bill did not include a warrant requirement, but instead added oversight and enforcement changes.
Under the House measure, oversight would include a monthly civil liberties review of U.S. person queries by an official within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, with violations referred to the Intelligence Community’s inspector general. The bill would also create criminal penalties for officials who knowingly misuse the system or falsify compliance, direct a government audit of targeting practices, and require new procedures to expand congressional access to FISA court proceedings.
On the House floor, Democrats criticized the extension as insufficient. Maryland Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, derided the measure as a “three-year blank check” that comes “without any meaningful guardrails,” and argued that the bill would still allow FBI agents to “collect, search and review Americans’ communications without any review from a judge,” without a judicial warrant requirement.
Other Democrats took a different view. Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, spoke in favor of the extension, calling the program “without question, the most important foreign intelligence tool.” Himes said the bill would make guardrails “marginally and modestly stronger,” including the new oversight mechanisms in the House version.
Lawmakers said the immediate focus in both chambers would shift to avoiding a lapse. Senate Majority Leader John Thune said late Wednesday that another short-term extension would likely be needed ahead of the Friday deadline, even if the Senate ultimately becomes amenable to some of the House oversight changes. Thune also said the Senate would try to quickly pass a 45-day extension, but noted that a single senator could hold it up.
Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has said he would not go along with a 45-day approach and instead would seek a three-week extension with additional provisions, according to his office. Senators from both parties signaled commitment to prevent the law from expiring, and Sen. Mike Rounds, R-S.D., said, “There is clear consensus in the Senate as to how important it is.”
Another issue confronting the Senate is the House’s decision to tie the surveillance renewal to separate legislation, including a bill that would ban a central bank digital currency. Thune said that portion was “very, very hard to pass,” and he told reporters it is “dead on arrival” in the Senate, underscoring the difficulty of resolving all elements of the House package on the timeline needed to prevent the FISA program from expiring.