Congress extends govt. surveillance powers for 45 days

By Thérèse Boudreaux
The Center Square

The U.S. House has adopted a short-term extension of FISA Section 702, buying lawmakers more time to hammer out reforms to the controversial federal surveillance authority.

Despite opposition in both parties, the bill cleared the lower chamber under suspension of the rules in a 261-111 vote Thursday afternoon, just hours after it passed the Senate.

Ninety-four House Democrats and 26 House Republicans opposed the extension Thursday, citing Fourth Amendment concerns.

On paper, FISA Section 702 allows federal intelligence agencies to conduct warrantless electronic surveillance on foreign nationals of suspicion.

But in practice, the electronic data of American citizens – including emails, text messages, and phone calls – are routinely collected as well.

The major controversy lies in the fact that federal intelligence agents will routinely search through that database without obtaining a warrant, which critics view as a violation of Americans’ Fourth Amendment Rights.

“This body ought to be defending the people of the United States against the power of government being used against us,” U.S. Rep. Chip Toy, R-Texas, who voted against the extension, said. “Under no circumstances should we allow technology to breach the wall that the Fourth Amendment created.”

Declassified government documents and oversight reports show that federal intelligence agencies have performed millions of these so-called “backdoor searches” since FISA Section 702 was created, including 57,000 in 2023 alone.

House Republicans are particularly disgruntled because they had originally assumed that the Senate would swallow their three-year FISA Section 702 extension. That bill, which included modest accountability and transparency reforms, passed the House Wednesday night.

But Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., announced the bill was “dead on arrival” in the Senate, due to a last-minute amendment the House added that would prohibit the U.S. Treasury from issuing a central bank digital currency.

Ignoring the lower chamber, the Senate passed a clean 45-day extension instead. Now that the House has approved, FISA Section 702 will expire June 1, absent congressional action.

Thune obtained the necessary votes after granting Sen. Ron Wyden’s, D-Ore., demand that Congress request the declassification of a FISA court opinion that documents the federal government’s abuses of Section 702 powers.

Many lawmakers, however, view the extension as merely kicking the can down a dead-end road, given the amount of time they had already spent on Section 702 negotiations.

“The Senate keeps rejecting the House’s legislation, sticking their noses in the air, and skipping town when it matters,” Rep. Keith Self, R-Texas, fumed to reporters Thursday. “The Senate needs to get a grip and get to work. The American people demand it.”