April 10 (UPI) — Disagreement on how to proceed tanked a House procedural vote to enable continued surveillance of foreigners located abroad on Wednesday.
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 allows federal agencies to spy on foreigners while they are abroad without requiring a FISA warrant.
The sticking point is that Section 702 also allows spying on communications involving U.S. citizens who might communicate with the foreigners targeted by the FISA surveillance, The Hill, Politico and Axios reported.
House Majority Leader Mike Johnson, R-La., said an amendment would be offered during debate that would address concerns regarding privacy rights violations of U.S. citizens.
Lawmakers can’t vote on the proposed amendment until the FISA measure advances to the floor for debate.
A majority of House Democrats and 19 GOP members defeated the procedural vote, with 193 House members voting for it and 228 against it.
Representative Matt Gaetz, R-Fla., led the group of 19 House GOP conservatives in voting with Democrats to defeat the procedural vote.
The vote marks the third time the House failed to advance the measure to floor debate.
Section 702 expires on April 19 if the House doesn’t reauthorize it or if it doesn’t temporarily extend its current authorization.
The House in December approved a short-term extension, which ends April 19.
The latest defeat of the FISA 702 reauthorization efforts came after former President Donald Trump on social media urged House members to “kill FISA,” saying it was used against him illegally and against other U.S. citizens in the past.
Trump also said the FISA regulations were used to spy on his successful presidential campaign in 2016.
