Sen. Ron Wyden sent a letter to his Democratic colleagues urging them to reject a clean renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ahead of an expected House vote on Wednesday.
The federal surveillance authority expires Monday, and House GOP leadersdelayed a renewal vote set for Wednesday after disagreements with some Republicans over including amendments addressing privacy concerns. The White House and Republican leaders are calling for renewal without any changes, but a bipartisan group of lawmakers are demanding guardrails to address concerns AI can significantly enhance the government’s mass surveillance capabilities.
“With recent developments in AI supercharging how the government can surveil Americans, Congress must use this upcoming debate to make necessary reforms to all our surveillance laws,” Wyden (D-Ore.) said in the letter obtained exclusively by POLITICO.
The senator sent a similar letter to House Democrats on Monday.
A final vote in the House could happen around 10 p.m. Wednesday if GOP leadership can strike an agreement with holdouts on changes to the bill. That would set up a possible Senate vote on Thursday.
Amendments could include requiring a warrant for purchasing Americans’ information from data brokers, and closing a loophole that allows the government to use the foreign surveillance authority to investigate American citizens.
Wyden’s letter also called for declassifying a FISA Court opinion from last month that he described as finding major compliance problems with Section 702.
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