Despite the efforts of Republicans to block an earlier version of the bill, the House of Representatives has successfully renewed a surveillance act that allows the government to conduct warrantless spying on American citizens. On Friday, April 12, the House voted 273-147 to fund Section 702 of the 1978 Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).
A group of 19 conservative lawmakers blocked a procedural vote on Wednesday, April 10, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) reportedly persuaded them to lift their veto. On Friday morning, they agreed that they would allow a vote to take place if Johnson cut Section 702's funding from five years to two and held a separate vote on an amendment that would require the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other spy agencies to obtain warrants before using the program against Americans. The amendment received 212 votes for and 212 votes against.
"Speaker Johnson was the final vote. He was the one that caused the warrant amendment to fail," Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) told reporters. "What's the difference between [former House Speaker Nancy] Pelosi and Speaker Johnson? There's not one."
But the bill won't be headed to the Senate just yet. Due to procedural maneuvers made by Republican representatives, Section 702 is stuck in limbo and members are required to vote on the measure again next week. That process, for now, is expected to be perfunctory.
Section 702 of FISA allows the government to collect – on domestic soil and without a warrant – the communications of targeted foreigners abroad, including when those people are interacting with Americans. Under that legislation, the National Security Agency can order email services like Google to turn over copies of all messages in the accounts of any foreign user, and network operators like AT&T to intercept and furnish copies of any phone calls, texts and internet communications to or from a foreign target.
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Analysts at several agencies, including the FBI, can search the repository of messages by using Americans' identifiers like Social Security numbers, passport numbers, phone numbers and email addresses as search terms.
Section 702 was originally set to expire on April 19. A court granted the government temporary reprieve and allowed it to continue operating until April 2025. Under the law, surveillance activity can continue so long as there are active court orders allowing it, even if the underlying statute expires. (Related: Congress approves extension of U.S. government's warrantless surveillance powers despite opposition.)
Trump vows to "kill" FISA
Supporting the 19 Republicans who went against their party and voted against Section 702's renewal was former President Donald Trump, who encouraged them to "exterminate" FISA, complaining that the FBI illegally used the act to spy on his 2016 campaign.
He posted on his social media platform Truth Social: "KILL FISA, IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS. THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN!!!"
Trump has been expressing his grievances about national security agencies for years now. His dissatisfaction stems from an inspector general's finding that the FBI botched applications for FISA warrants to target a former campaign adviser as part of the investigation into ties between his 2016 campaign and Russia.
"A Republican speaker voting against warrant requirements for American citizens after this very process was blatantly abused to spy on Trump and his campaign is beyond the pale," Rep. Greg Steube (R-FL) wrote on X. Also, according to data released in 2022, the FBI used this program to probe the electronic data of nearly 3.4 million Americans in 2021.
Surveillance.news has more stories about how the government violates the privacy of Americans.
Watch the video below that talks about how the members of Congress will allow FBI to spy on Americans, except them.
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