The Senate voted 47-52 on Friday to block a procedural motion advancing legislation that would reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, delivering a bipartisan setback to President Trump’s national security priority. Five Republicans — Sens. Rick Scott of Florida, Josh Hawley of Missouri, Eric Schmitt of Missouri, Tommy Tuberville of Alabama and Mike Lee of Utah — joined all but one Democrat in opposing the measure. Democratic Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania was the sole Democrat to vote in favor.
The program’s congressional authority expires June 12. If no extension is passed, the program will not immediately shut down; the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in March approved the program’s operation for an additional year. However, legislative deadlock would pressure the administration to find a path forward.
The bipartisan opposition stems from two distinct sources. Republican privacy advocates have long objected to the warrantless surveillance of Americans that Section 702 permits when they communicate with foreign targets. Democrats are protesting Trump’s decision to name Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence, a position that oversees the surveillance apparatus.
Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, said Sunday that bipartisan talks on the legislation were progressing before Trump announced Pulte. “Giving this guy who will simply roll over or do whatever is — I think it’s a national-security threat. I think it is a choice that even my Republican friends agree is a disaster,” Warner told CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Republican Sens. Tom Cotton of Arkansas and Chuck Grassley of Iowa sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio on Saturday warning that the administration should “plan for a potential significant gap in foreign-intelligence collection.”
Trump has called the program essential for military operations, including the war in Iran, and urged lawmakers to extend it without changes. In a social-media post Sunday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called Section 702 “one of our nation’s most effective tools for identifying and disrupting” domestic terror threats. He singled out Democrats for blocking the bill, without mentioning the Republicans who also voted no.
The program initially expired in April and has been extended twice on a short-term basis as Congress failed to agree on changes. Some lawmakers have pushed for adding a warrant requirement for searches of data collected on Americans, a reform that privacy advocates on both sides support but that the administration opposes.
Trump has told The Wall Street Journal that he wants Pulte to begin firing employees as part of a shake-up of the intelligence community, and has signaled that Pulte could pursue domestic investigations, including probes into the 2020 election. “He’s a very smart guy, and he may find out some things about the rigged elections,” Trump said Thursday.
Republicans who support the surveillance program expressed frustration with the timing of Trump’s Pulte announcement. Sen. Mike Rounds of South Dakota said last week that if Pulte’s appointment slows reauthorization of Section 702, “I think we’re going to need the assistance of the executive branch in terms of addressing it.”
The legislative path remains uncertain. Supporters of the program are urging Trump to address concerns about Pulte’s role to win back Republican votes, while Democrats show no sign of dropping their opposition.