Legislation to renew expiring government surveillance powers is back on the House schedule Friday as Republican leaders attempt to overcome resistance that blocked the bill once already this week. Members were scheduled to hold procedural votes Friday morning on the measure, which would extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act for two years. A vote on final passage is expected to happen later. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) lost a similar attempt in a 193-228 vote on Wednesday. About 20 members of the Republican conference voted against Johnson’s effort to call up the bill. The law is otherwise set to expire April 19. FBI Director Christopher Wray, echoing comments he’s made previously, told lawmakers on Thursday that allowing Section 702 to lapse would be “devastating” to federal efforts to fight cyberthreats and terrorism. Lawmakers in both parties have criticized aspects of the law, which allows U.S. intelligence agencies to conduct warrantless surveillance of the electronic communications of foreigners outside the country. In the process, it also captures the personal data of an unknown number of Americans.
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Martin Matishak
is the senior cybersecurity reporter for The Record. Prior to joining Recorded Future News in 2021, he spent more than five years at Politico, where he covered digital and national security developments across Capitol Hill, the Pentagon and the U.S. intelligence community. He previously was a reporter at The Hill, National Journal Group and Inside Washington Publishers.