House Republican leaders again delayed a procedural vote Wednesday aimed at extending a federal warrantless surveillance law, despite another plea from CIA Director John Ratcliffe for the GOP to renew the law without changes.
It was the second delay on reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act since Congress returned from a two-week recess. GOP leaders haven’t been able to find enough Republicans to support an 18-month extension to reauthorize the FISA law without any modifications, admitting that the “clean” FISA extension sought by President Trump is not yet likely in the House.
It wasn’t clear whether discussions would bring about another attempt on a procedural vote later Wednesday night.
Lawmakers have until Monday to re-authorize the surveillance measure known as FISA’s Section 702, or it will expire.
Mr. Ratcliffe, a former House GOP member, spoke to the Republican conference in Wednesday’s closed-door meeting and urged holdouts to support a clean extension.
But convincing rank-and-file Republicans and Democrats to support the reauthorization is proving difficult. Many lawmakers have demanded changes to Section 702 when it has come up for re-authorization every two years.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Louisiana Republican, told reporters that Section 702 has been an executive branch tool through Republican and Democrat administrations “going back years, and it’s gone through significant reforms that were very necessary, including the 56 reforms made the last time it was reauthorized, which we needed to do.”
Mr. Scalise said that although there is no agreement yet, leaders could bring in “minor tweaks” into the procedural rule governing floor debate on the underlying bill — if the White House supports such action.
Republican holdouts are seeking a pledge to advance a ban on a central bank digital currency, while House Republican leadership and the White House are pressing for a longer Section 702 extension in exchange for that issue and other policies. Conservative lawmakers also want to address warrant requirements.
Section 702 allows U.S. spy agencies to intercept communications of foreigners abroad. Americans can be ensnared in surveillance when communicating with foreigners. The FBI and U.S. intelligence agencies have also searched the collected data for information about Americans.
Mr. Trump supports renewing Section 702 as is, despite his first campaign falling victim to FISA abuse. The FBI in the Obama administration used bogus information to obtain FISA warrants to spy on Trump 2016 campaign adviser Carter Page.
Mr. Trump said on Wednesday on social media that, even if the law were used against him in the future, “I am willing to risk that as a Citizen in order to do what is right for our Country.”
The president recently called upon the GOP holdouts to meet with him at the White House to try to convince them to vote for a clean extension.
Republican leaders backing the clean reauthorization said the necessary updates were made after 2016.
