House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said the House will move forward with voting on whether to extend provisions from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, rejecting a request from GOP leadership in Congress’ lower chamber to hold off.
Speaking to reporters on Capitol Hill Wednesday, Pelosi (D-Calif.) said of the FISA legislation, “We’ll act upon it today one way or another.”
Asked whether a vote would happen today, the nation’s highest-ranking elected Democrat replied, “Yes.”
Pelosi’s decision comes as the bill appears to be on life support, despite her party’s majority in the congressional body.
The bill would reauthorize three expired surveillance programs under the 2015 USA Freedom Act, an intelligence reform law, and make some adjustments to the FISA court.
The legislation was passed in its original form in the House without much support from Democrats, with only 152 voting in favor.
The bill was modified by the Senate during debate on the legislation, adding legal protections for some FISA warrant applicants. The move forces the bill to be sent back to the House.
As the House began negotiating on the newly modified bill earlier this month, an intra-party rift emerged among Democrats over some privacy protections.
Last week, Rep. Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) was able to make some progress in moving the reauthorization forward by securing a vote on an amendment that would ban the government from being able to access the internet history of Americans through a provision of the FISA law.
She introduced the amendment with Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) and negotiated with House Intelligence Committee Chairman Adam Schiff (D-Calif.).
The problem, however, was that the amendment appeared to closely mirror some of the content that failed in the Senate by a single vote.
That language was offered by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.), who went from praising the House bill to lashing out at Schiff for the change. The Oregon Democrat accused Schiff of undermining the original text and called on lawmakers to reject the entire FISA bill.
Now, there is no guarantee that the bill in its current form will be able to garner enough support to reach the 218 votes needed for passage if it lacks any GOP support whatsoever.
While the original legislation was negotiated by Attorney General William Barr and multiple top allies of the president, Barr’s team at the Justice Department now opposes the bill.
Assistant Attorney General Stephen Boyd chided both the House and Senate for their additions to the legislation in a statement Tuesday, saying the department would advise President Trump to veto it.
“We have proposed specific fixes to the most significant problems created by the changes the Senate made. Instead of addressing those issues, the House is now poised to further amend the legislation in a manner that will weaken national security tools while doing nothing to address the abuses identified by the DOJ Inspector General,” Boyd remarked.
That same day, Trump chimed in, calling on all House Republicans to stop the legislation.
“I hope all Republican House Members vote NO on FISA until such time as our Country is able to determine how and why the greatest political, criminal, and subversive scandal in USA history took place!” he tweeted.
Just prior to Trump urging GOP opposition Tuesday, White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany said in response to a question from The Post at a press briefing, “Any FISA concerns the president has, they’re real, they’re personal, and they should be considered as we move forward to reauthorize this valuable tool.”
FISA became law after Watergate to rein in government surveillance. It sets out oversight for surveillance of suspected spies and terrorists, but privacy advocates say it’s insufficient with regard to protecting Americans’ freedoms.
