House successfully navigates initial obstacle amid conservative pushback on FISA bill

The House advanced its new version of a key federal surveillance extension, overcoming the first hurdle to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act before its expiration next week.

Lawmakers voted 213-208 to advance the modified legislation after days of negotiations and infighting among House Republicans about which reforms to include in the legislative text. The vote marks the first time lawmakers have managed to make progress on the key legislation after several failed attempts and lingering disagreements over which reforms should be made to the surveillance tool.

The House will now move forward with debate on the legislation, with a final vote expected on Friday morning.

The altered bill comes after 19 Republicans joined all Democrats in voting against a procedural rule on Wednesday that would have moved the FISA reform bill forward, effectively putting the House at a standstill until a new proposal was negotiated. Lawmakers met in several closed-door meetings throughout Thursday to consider a backup plan, adding a number of amendments in order to appease the hard-line Republicans.

All of the initial holdouts flipped their vote to support the rule on Friday.

One of the most critical changes was shortening the FISA reauthorization sunset from five years to two years, as well as a promise from GOP leadership to bring Rep. Warren Davidson’s (R-OH) Fourth Amendment is Not For Sale Act to the floor as a stand-alone vote sometime next week.

Those changes managed to persuade enough holdouts to support the rule vote, a procedural move that allows lawmakers to move forward with debate and any amendments. However, those lawmakers could oppose the final vote, making its fate unclear in the lower chamber.

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Lawmakers will move forward with voting on amendments to the bill, including one proposal to require warrants for any searches of U.S. citizens, with exceptions for “threats to life or bodily harm, consent searches, or known cybersecurity threat signatures.” That amendment, proposed by Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), has been among the most contentious, with several Republicans threatening to vote against the reauthorization altogether if it is not included.

However, the White House has already come out against the Biggs amendment, making it unclear whether President Joe Biden would sign the bill should it pass Congress with the proposal included.