Speaker Johnson nixes plans to take up warrantless surveillance bill this week

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) abandoned plans to bring a bill to the House floor this week that would reauthorize the nation’s warrantless spy program, a second failure to consider legislation that has sparked a battle between two powerful committees.

Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows the government to spy on noncitizens located abroad, has divided the House’s Intelligence and Judiciary committees, who are at odds over whether the program should include a warrant requirement.

“In order to allow Congress more time to reach consensus on how best to reform FISA and Section 702 while maintaining the integrity of our critical national security programs, the House will consider the reform and reauthorization bill at a later date,” Raj Shah, a spokesperson for Johnson, wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. 

Section 702 of FISA only allows for the targeting of foreigners outside the U.S., but their communications with U.S. citizens can be swept up in the process, something critics see as allowing backdoor searches on Americans.

Republicans last year were unable to reach consensus on competing proposals from the two panels over how to address the reauthorization, with Congress ultimately failing to consider either package and avoiding its end-of-year expiration with a short-term extension into April. 

But this year’s bill, hashed out by a working group of members from the two committees, is again igniting pushback.

Though an amalgamation of both panels’ bills, it more closely resembles last year’s Intelligence package and does not include the warrant requirement demanded by Judiciary members.

The warrant requirement sought by Judiciary members is considered a red line by the intelligence community, which warns it would leave the U.S. blind to information it’s lawfully collected and unable to respond in real time.

The decision to pull the bill comes as the House appeared poised to consider the warrant requirement as an amendment on the House floor, giving the entire body a chance to weigh the issue.

“I think we were going to win on the warrant requirement,” House Judiciary Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) said.

“I don’t think the House – either body – has ever had a straight up and down vote on the warrant requirement to query U.S. persons in the 702 database. And we need that straight up, up and down vote, real, full debate. I think the country needs to see that. And I think as I said before, I think that the amendment was gonna pass.”

But Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-Texas) said the bill was pulled over opposition from Intel members over the insertion of language that would open the door to consideration of language from another bill that would bar the government from buying information from data brokers.

“I’m frustrated that we’re all of the sudden trying to create a FISA showdown this week,” he told Politico. 

It’s not clear when the bill will next be considered, but Congress is about to leave for a two-week recess. The return in March will give lawmakers a little over a month to consider a bill before the authorities expire.

Updated at 7:08 p.m.