The House stumbled to get a floor vote on legislation that would reauthorize a powerful surveillance authority, as a group of Republicans aired concerns that it didn’t do enough to protect citizen privacy. Republican leadership pushed this week to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which is set to expire April 19, Roll Call reports. On a 193-228 vote, the House on Wednesday rejected a rule that would have set up the terms of floor consideration of the bill, adding more uncertainty into the reauthorization process for a program the intelligence community has called essential for national security. Nineteen Republicans voted against the rule. Several aired concerns ahead of the vote that the current version of the bill does not include a provision to require the government to get a warrant before searching for the information of Americans.
The rule would have allowed for a vote on an amendment that would add a warrant requirement to Section 702, an issue that has fractured both House conferences and spurred a fierce standoff between the House Judiciary Committee and the House Intelligence Committee. Several Republicans expressed a reluctance for the House to move on a bill that could expand some authority without knowing for sure if the warrant requirement would be adopted to constrict that authority. “A clean extension is arguably preferable to an expansion with a pre-cooked determination that we’re not going to pass a warrant protection,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX). Democrats voted against the rule as well. The rule also would have provided for consideration of a partisan measure criticizing the Biden administration’s approach to security on the U.S.-Mexico border.