Johnson plans new push to reauthorize controversial government spy power

Speaker Mike Johnson is preparing to try again to reauthorize a controversial government spy power, one day after backlash from his right flank unraveled his plans.

The House Rules Committee is expected to convene on Thursday night to tee up legislation reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the intelligence community to collect communications from foreign targets without a warrant.

Lawmakers have been warned that they could start voting as early as 8:30 a.m. on Friday, as Republicans look to bring the surveillance legislation back to the floor and, if they can get over that first hurdle, pass the bill on Friday.

The move comes after 19 House Republicans on Wednesday blocked the bill from floor debate, the latest in a near-constant showcase of angst among conservatives. This time, members on Johnson’s right rebelled against his handling of the surveillance fight just hours after former President Donald Trump urged them to “kill” the broader surveillance law.

It’s far from clear that Johnson’s latest gambit will get him the votes he needs, even as Congress barrels toward an April 19 reauthorization deadline without a clear plan. But the decision to try to bring the bill back to the floor comes after hours spent negotiating with his holdouts.

To try to assuage his nearly 20 GOP holdouts, Johnson shortened how long the foreign surveillance power would be extended from five years to two years — teeing up another fight over government wiretapping during a second Trump term, if the GOP standard-bearer wins in November.

A handful of those “no” votes indicated Thursday that they would now vote to help bring the bill to the floor. Others sounded notes of optimism about the changes, but didn’t explicitly commit to voting to get it to the floor.

Johnson is also expected to give Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) a separate vote on his legislation preventing data brokers from selling consumer information to law enforcement. That vote is expected to likely be next week, though Davidson declined to comment on Thursday on the development.

Trump teed off against the broader surveillance law this week, complicating the GOP’s debate, even as he conflated the issues at the center of the House’s fight. Supporters of reauthorizing the warrantless surveillance power were quick to note after Trump’s comments that he also flip-flopped on his surveillance positions during his presidency, including saying he would have preferred a permanent reauthorization when he signed the last years-long extension in early 2018.

Two GOP members suggested that Trump could clarify his position — though the former president has not yet done so. If he moves toward the House’s surveillance bill, that could help Johnson shore up his vote count.

GOP leadership is hoping to pass the surveillance bill on Friday, before Johnson is expected to appear with Trump at Mar-a-Lago. The bill is aimed at bolstering the transparency and oversight of the spy power, but doesn’t include a sweeping change backed by a bipartisan coalition of privacy hawks: Requiring a warrant before searching the foreign data that the program collects for information related to Americans.

The House is expected to vote on an amendment adding that warrant requirement to the bill. Meanwhile, the Biden administration, intelligence community allies and even Johnson himself are working hard to defeat it.

To meet his ambitious goal of passing a rule for debate and the entire bill on Friday, Johnson will need to flip all but two of his 19 holdouts after Democratic leadership ruled out helping.

Some House Democrats have flirted with voting to get the bill to the floor, arguing that the national security risks of further turmoil could outweigh their typical stance of making Republicans tee up the bill on their own. But the surveillance reauthorization bill also divides Democrats, including those on the Intelligence and Judiciary committees.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Thursday shot down the prospects of a procedural bailout for Johnson, telling reporters that Democrats would not help bring up a stand-alone surveillance bill. Jeffries added that Johnson had not spoken to him about the idea.

“You've got Democrats who aren't necessarily supporting this bill,” Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.) said, noting he had briefly spoken to Jeffries. “And then there's the larger question that has been a question since Kevin McCarthy — which is, you know, at what point is, do the Democrats stop majority dysfunction? That's a tough political question.”

Beyond the Hill, it is not clear if the White House will embrace the two-year reauthorization — even if it comes without deal-breakers like the warrant requirement.

An individual familiar with the administration’s thinking said officials are discussing whether to instead pressure the Senate to offer up a one-year clean reauthorization.

The individual, granted anonymity due to the ongoing nature of the debate, said the administration fears that two years wouldn’t be enough time to implement and assess the effectiveness of the reforms included in the base bill.

The DOJ and NSC did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

John Sakellariadis contributed to this report.