House lawmakers reject update on critical U.S. intelligence program

U.S. House of Representatives members on Wednesday rejected an attempt to reform a controversial foreign intelligence program, the latest blow to House Speaker Mike Johnson’s efforts to lead a slim Republican majority.

Updates to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) fail to move forward after former President Donald Trump warned on TruthSocial (228-193).

Trump said FISA “was used illegally against me and many others. They spied on my campaign!!” he wrote in all caps.

A 2019 Justice Department investigation found that surveillance of Trump campaign aide Carter Page continued for months after it was supposed to end.

The law, also known as Section 702, allows U.S. intelligence agencies to collect data on foreigners abroad without obtaining a warrant. But it has drawn the most criticism for allowing so-called “backdoor searches” to collect data on U.S. citizens. The attempted reforms would require the FBI to obtain a search warrant before collecting data.

“We are making sweeping changes to the plan in the basic text – 50 reforms, 56 to be exact, that will stop abusive politicized FBI inquiries and prevent another Russia hoax collapse, along with many other important Reform,” Johnson told reporters on Wednesday morning. “The intelligence community no longer relies on false news reports to issue FISA orders and no longer colludes with each other.”

But Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has filed a procedural motion to remove Johnson as speaker, said the reforms were not enough.

“It’s like asking the deep state to hold itself accountable,” Green told reporters Wednesday. “The FBI is abusing the trust of the American people. This [Justice Department] An abuse of the trust of the American people. So, that doesn’t lead me to believe that it will stop it. “

Nineteen House Republicans voted against the bill. Democrats said Wednesday that proposed reforms to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act have not yet received their votes.

“Whatever the vote count turns out to be, or whatever happens, it’s because the speaker chose not to move forward with this issue as a single, independent process. If he chooses to go a different route, then we will re-evaluate,” said House Democratic Caucus Chairman Rep. Pete Aguilar said Wednesday morning.

An attempt to pass the surveillance law failed in December when House leadership withdrew a vote due to intra-Republican divisions.

Johnson said in a letter to colleagues on Friday that the law would “establish new procedures to control the FBI, strengthen accountability of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC), impose penalties for misconduct, and build upon the FISA process Unprecedented transparency so we no longer have to wait years to discover potential abuse.”

FBI Director Christopher Wray warned of some of the proposed changes in a speech to the American Bar Association on Tuesday.

“The bottom line is that the search warrant requirement amounts to recreating the intelligence ‘wall’ that existed before 9/11,” he said in prepared remarks. “As the threats facing our homeland continue to evolve, the 702’s agility and effectiveness are critical to the FBI’s ability and the mandate of the American people to keep them safe for years to come.”

The program’s authorization is set to expire on April 19 unless Congress takes action.

Jeff Seldin contributed to this report.