The House passed a three-year reauthorization of a key spy power Wednesday, sending the extension to the Senate one day before it is set to expire.
A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers voted 235-191 to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act after weeks of agonizing negotiations and intraparty disputes.
But the saga isn’t over yet. The Senate is unlikely to clear the House-passed extension, which will be sent over with an unrelated, permanent ban on the Federal Reserve’s ability to issue a digital currency attached.
That provision was included at the behest of ultraconservatives, but it is so divisive across the Capitol that it has stalled a major affordable housing package for months. Senate Majority Leader John Thune earlier this week warned that the digital currency ban was “not happening” as part of spy law renewal.
That means the Senate could send its own version of a Section 702 extension back to the House with just hours to spare before the law expires Thursday night.
The major U.S. spy program targets foreigners but also sweeps up data on Americans in the process, and privacy hawks on both sides of the aisle are demanding new guardrails to prevent the federal government from conducting warrantless surveillance on its own citizens.
After initially pushing for a White House-backed straight 18-month extension, GOP leaders agreed to add clarifications on Fourth Amendment protections and additional penalties for privacy violations to get many holdouts on board.
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