Congress appeared to be on track to reauthorize a national spy program that’s due to expire in the coming days. Then Donald Trump stepped in.
The president’s decision to name Bill Pulte — a MAGA ally with no national security experience — acting director of national intelligence has upended bipartisan plans to pass a long-term extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which has been floating along on a stopgap patch since April amid broader political disagreements about the fate of the spy law.
Members on both sides of the aisle are concerned that U.S. citizens are getting swept up in warrantless surveillance designed to target foreigners overseas and want the program to be significantly reined in. A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers was working to pass a three-year extension.
But Democrats are withdrawing their support in protest of the Pulte appointment, with nearly every Democratic senator joining a handful of Republicans in tanking a procedural vote early Friday morning that would have allowed for passage of that three-year deal before the June 12 deadline.
It’s only the latest in a string of occasions where Trump has acted seemingly on impulse and without consideration for the political fallout and ramifications on Capitol Hill. That has complicated efforts by Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson’s to enact the president’s agenda with just months to go until the midterms.
“I don’t think he thinks about the impact on us and the timing,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told reporters. “Which is unfortunate because it really has had an impact. Quite honestly, I’m worried about what we’re going to do on FISA.”
The newest FISA hiccup comes after GOP leaders saw passage of their immigration enforcement bill delayed, and almost entirely derailed, by Trump’s unrelated demands — first for more money to cover security features surrounding the White House ballroom project, then over the announcement of a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” that fueled a wave of Republican furor on Capitol Hill.
The usually even-keeled Thune has hinted publicly at frustrations over how the administration’s uncoordinated decisions are making it harder to advance GOP priorities.
“Timing is everything. And we’re trying to get some stuff done up here, things that the White House wants done that … get more complicated with the weekly announcements,” Thune said last week.
Thune said after Friday’s failed FISA vote that it was “irresponsible” for Democrats to risk letting the surveillance power lapse. But when asked what impact Trump’s Pulte announcement had on that vote outcome, he conceded that there “have been timing issues around several things they’ve done in the last few weeks.”
Trump announced Thursday that Pulte would not be the formal nominee to succeed Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence — a move widely seen as an indirect acknowledgment his appointment was causing political headaches. Two people granted anonymity to speak candidly said Republicans viewed this step as Trump responding to private warnings from GOP lawmakers about Pulte and his impact on the spy power extension discussions.
But his assurances weren’t enough for Senate Democrats. All except Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted against advancing a deal that would have paired a three-year extension with some new guardrails and transparency requirements.
Later Friday, Trump told the Wall Street Journal he wants Pulte to begin firing a slew of employees in the intelligence community — further inflaming Democrats who are already on guard against Trump administration efforts to downsize the federal bureaucracy.
Several Democrats who were at one point inclined to help Republicans pass a long-term FISA extension now say they are not interested in cooperating until Pulte is removed.
“You just couldn’t have thrown an uglier wrench into the process,” said Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, in an interview.
“I’m bleeding Democrats” willing to vote for a deal, he added, “and we didn’t have that many to begin with.”
Across the Capitol, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, who was viewed as a Democrat likely to help advance a surveillance powers bill, said in a statement that Trump “is undermining extension of this critical authority” with the appointment.
“Pulte must go,” she said.
Meanwhile, the setback in the Senate is only empowering privacy hawks in both parties who believe they now have momentum to kill any FISA deal that doesn’t include sweeping changes whether Pulte gets yanked from his acting leadership post or not — further complicating matters for Thune and Johnson.
“Warrantless FISA surveillance depends on a handful of government officials to choose not to misuse the most powerful spying apparatus the world has ever seen,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said in a statement Friday. “Firing Pulte won’t solve the real problem.”
Republicans are hoping that talks between the White House and congressional Democrats can help shake things loose. Thune said “the administration will have to consider and Democrats will have to think about” if any deal can get through with Pulte in his current role.
Even if the Senate can manage to pass a FISA extension this week, House GOP leaders still have several hurdles to overcome in order to pass it in time.
Members of the House Freedom Caucus have revived a social media campaign demanding intelligence agencies get a warrant before searching the foreign data for Americans, and some hard-liners are pushing for the inclusion of a permanent ban on the Federal Reserve’s ability to issue a digital currency.
“I think we ought to just hold our powder dry and see what actually comes out of the Senate,” said Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas), a proponent of incorporating both policy changes into the bill.
He added it was “probably reasonable” to predict another short-term deadline punt at this point. Another hard-liner, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), agreed it likely will “unfortunately” be needed.
House Democrats say they are not inclined at this point to move things along.
“We need the administration to appoint someone as DNI who’s going to take FISA seriously,” Rep. Brad Schneider of Illinois, chair of the centrist New Democrat Coalition, said Friday.
Even Himes, among the most vocal Democrats in favor of keeping FISA from expiring, wouldn’t commit to supporting an extension now without first securing Pulte’s removal.
“I was actually looking forward to gaining Democrats” to vote on an extension, Himes said. “Instead, my phone is ringing with Democrats telling me to go pound sand on FISA.”
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