The House of Representatives approved a three-year extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which empowers U.S. intelligence agencies to collect and review the electronic communications of foreign nationals located outside the United States without obtaining individual court orders.

The provision has faced intense scrutiny for enabling the intelligence community to collect information on Americans without a warrant through its surveillance of foreigners.

In a 235-191 vote, the House advanced the extension of the controversial spy tool.

The legislation moves to the Senate with an attached ban on central bank digital currencies (CBDCs).

However, it’s believed the Senate will scrap the CBDC ban.

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POLITICO explained further:

The Senate is unlikely to clear the House-passed extension, which will be sent over with an unrelated, permanent ban on the Federal Reserve’s ability to issue a digital currency attached.

That provision was included at the behest of ultraconservatives, but it is so divisive across the Capitol that it has stalled a major affordable housing package for months. Senate Majority Leader John Thune earlier this week warned that the digital currency ban was “not happening” as part of spy law renewal.

That means the Senate could send its own version of a Section 702 extension back to the House with just hours to spare before the law expires Thursday night.

The major U.S. spy program targets foreigners but also sweeps up data on Americans in the process, and privacy hawks on both sides of the aisle are demanding new guardrails to prevent the federal government from conducting warrantless surveillance on its own citizens.

After initially pushing for a White House-backed straight 18-month extension, GOP leaders agreed to add clarifications on Fourth Amendment protections and additional penalties for privacy violations to get many holdouts on board.

“Any Republican telling you they’re voting yes on FISA in exchange for a CBDC ban is a liar or a fool. The Senate will strip the CBDC ban. They know this or should know it. And no one should support FISA regardless!” former Congressman Justin Amash said.

“THUNE tells reporters the Senate is likely to try to pass a 45-day extension of FISA,” Punchbowl News reporter Laura Weiss commented.

“Comes after the House passed an extension with CBDC ban, which Senate leaders believe couldn’t pass the chamber. Senate will need UC to speed up passage of any FISA bill before tomorrow’s deadline,” she added.

Fox News has more:

Johnson has voiced optimism that the upper chamber will take up the House bill without modifications.

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“I speak with Leader Thune all the time. They’re watching this very closely, and hopefully they can process what we send them,” Johnson told Fox News Wednesday.

“No one, on the Republican side anyway, wants to play around with letting these critical national security tools go unfunded or expire,” he added. “So, I think they’ll move it expeditiously.”

The Trump administration has pressured House Republicans for weeks to back an extension of the spy law, arguing the surveillance authority is too vital for national security to expire.

“This department strongly supports the reauthorization of FISA 702,” Department of War Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers Wednesday. “It is not hyperbole to say many of the most important missions we have executed could not have happened without the intelligence gathered through FISA 702.”

 

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