House Republican leaders said Tuesday they will advance a plan to extend a surveillance law before it expires next month, Politico reported.
Intelligence Committee Chair Rick Crawford, R-Ark., and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told Politico they will advance Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act before the April 20 deadline.
The renewal will not include any new restrictions on intelligence agencies that some lawmakers had backed, the news outlet reported.
A bipartisan group in both chambers had previously pushed for changes in response to past compliance issues and concerns over how the FBI conducts searches for Americans' information in the Section 702 database without a warrant.
Civil liberties advocates have called for requiring warrants before querying the data for people in the U.S., arguing that added safeguards are needed to protect constitutional rights.
A vote is expected the week of April 13, sources told Politico.
"We're going to be talking to all our members, like on any big issue," Scalise said. "But the president's made it clear why it's important."
President Donald Trump backed the renewal of Section 702 when he met with House Republicans at their annual retreat Monday.
Trump proposed attaching the FISA reauthorization to the SAVE America Act, which requires proof of citizenship to register to vote and has become a top priority for the White House.
Crawford and Scalise told Politico they did not rule out attaching the bills.
"I'm open to whatever it takes to get things done and sometimes, you've got to be creative to get things done," Crawford said.
"It's definitely a strategic way of getting it across the finish line potentially. We just have to see if that's the appropriate course of action," Crawford added.
Section 702, first enacted in 2008 and periodically reauthorized by Congress, permits warrantless surveillance of foreign targets overseas to gather intelligence related to terrorism, espionage, and cyber threats.
The authority also allows incidental collection of Americans' communications if they are in contact with those foreign targets.
Intelligence officials have asserted that allowing the authority to lapse, even briefly, could interrupt investigations and reduce the government's ability to track foreign threats in real time.
Sam Barron ✉
Sam Barron has almost two decades of experience covering a wide range of topics including politics, crime and business.
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