The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee on Tuesday afternoon introduced an amendment to a reauthorization of a key spy authority that would require FBI agents to seek approval from a special court any time they want to use Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to obtain Americans’ communications data.
The proposal from Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut was unveiled just moments before the House Rules Committee gaveled in to a hearing to tee up floor consideration of an 18-month extension of Section 702, which is due to expire April 20 without congressional action.
Speaker Mike Johnson has said he won’t allow amendments to be considered on the floor in deference to President Donald Trump’s desire for a clean reauthorization. But Himes’ proposal is the latest sign that national security hawks in both parties are concerned the program could lapse without a deal to satisfy holdouts and are looking for new ways to bridge the divide.
Under Himes’ amendment, the court would have five days to approve the request. While the FBI would not have to wait on a verdict if it believed the search was necessary to stop a genuine emergency, like a terror or cyber attack, the court could force the bureau to delete any data it obtained if it was later determined that the search was conducted improperly.
“FISA 702 is too critical to allow it to expire, but the legitimate concerns about the possibility of abuse also demand that we consider additional reforms, exactly what my amendment seeks to accomplish,” Himes said in a statement to POLITICO.
Trump has also launched an 11-hour blitz to coax Republicans into re-upping the program as is. Trump urged Republicans to “UNIFY, and vote together” on the clean extension in a social media post Tuesday afternoon, and plans to host GOP holdouts at the White House tonight, as POLITICO first reported.
It will be an uphill battle. A group of 53 House Democrats on Tuesday sent a letter to House and Senate leadership arguing that the Trump administration could abuse so-called “loopholes” in current law to spy on Americans, minorities in particular. They argued Congress needs to require judicial warrants before government officials search Americans’ data under the 702 statute, or purchase it via commercial data brokers.
“Without independent guardrails on Section 702, this Administration has repeatedly shown that it cannot be trusted to police its own use of this sweeping surveillance authority,” reads a copy of the letter, which was first obtained by POLITICO.
Section 702 can only be used to target foreign spies, terrorists and drug traffickers, but it also sweeps up messages from Americans on the other end of those communications. The FBI, CIA, National Counterterrorism Center and NSA do not currently need a warrant to review those messages.
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