President Donald Trump has signed a 10-day extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, keeping the warrantless surveillance program alive through April 30 after House Republican leaders failed overnight to move either a five-year rewrite or a clean 18-month renewal the White House had demanded.
Section 702 allows the National Security Agency, FBI, CIA, and other agencies to collect the communications of foreign targets abroad without individualized warrants.
Americans in contact with those targets can be swept in, and privacy advocates in both parties have long pushed for a warrant requirement before agencies search that data for U.S.-person information.
The authority was set to sunset on April 20 under the 2024 Reforming Intelligence and Securing America Act.
Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., spent the week lobbying for a clean 18-month reauthorization.
CIA Director John Ratcliffe briefed Republican lawmakers, and the White House hosted GOP holdouts on Tuesday. On Truth Social, Trump wrote that the military "desperately needs FISA 702" and urged Republicans to stick together. The pitch did not hold.
After midnight Friday, Johnson tried to move a five-year extension with limited reforms, including new restrictions on FBI queries involving Americans and stiffer penalties for unlawful surveillance.
It was blocked by more than a dozen Republicans.
Leaders then pivoted to the 18-month clean bill, which also failed after about 20 Republicans joined most Democrats to reject it; four Democrats crossed over in support.
The House cleared the 10-day patch shortly after 2 a.m.
"Are you kidding me? Who the hell is running this place?" Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., said during floor debate.
Johnson, after the vote, offered a subdued assessment: "We were very close tonight."
Rep. Andy Ogles, R-Tenn., a House Freedom Caucus member who helped stall the long-term bills, said, "We warned them that this was gonna happen."
The Senate cleared the stopgap by voice vote Friday morning, and Trump signed the bill Saturday.
The core dispute remains unresolved: whether the FBI must obtain a warrant before querying Americans' communications pulled in through 702.
A 2024 House amendment to require such warrants failed on a 212-212 tie, and House leadership this week blocked another warrant vote through a closed rule in the Rules Committee.
Declassified Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court opinions have documented extensive past FBI misuse of the database, including queries tied to racial-justice protests and Jan. 6 subjects.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., signaled the Senate may need to take the lead before the new April 30 deadline, telling reporters Friday he had set up possible consideration of a clean three-year extension. "We'll be preparing accordingly," Thune said.
Congress has until April 30 to produce a longer deal or let the authority lapse; if it does, collection can technically continue under existing court certifications, but it will likely draw litigation from telecoms compelled to cooperate.
Jim Thomas ✉
Jim Thomas is a writer based in Indiana. He holds a bachelor's degree in Political Science, a law degree from U.I.C. Law School, and has practiced law for more than 20 years.
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