The US House of Representatives decided to keep an act in place that lets the government spy on people without an order. Republicans who support Trump stopped an earlier version of the act, but House Speaker Mike Johnson was able to get them to change their minds.
There were 273 negative votes and 147 positive votes in favor of funding Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978. Written in 2008, Section 702 made a program that was once secret legal. It lets US intelligence agencies listen in on phone and internet calls made from outside the US through American networks like Google.
The program seems to be aimed at outsiders, but it also "indirectly" gathers information from millions of American citizens that can be viewed without a court order. Data made public in 2022 shows that the FBI looked into the computer records of about 3.4 million Americans in 2021.
On Wednesday, 19 right lawmakers stopped a routine vote. This meant that Johnson could not hold a full floor vote on the extension of Section 702. Former President Donald Trump backed the 19 Republicans and told them to "kill FISA," saying that the FBI "illegally used" the law to spy on his 2016 campaign.
But early Friday morning, the rebels agreed that there would be a vote if Johnson cut Section 702's funding from five years to two. There was also a vote on an amendment that would require the FBI and other spy agencies to get warrants before using the program against Americans.
An odd coalition of left-wing progressives and strict conservatives voted 212 times in favor of the change and 212 times against it. Johnson, however, used his tie-breaking vote to defeat the amendment. This means that Americans can continue to be wiretapped without a request, which has angered Trump's supporters on Capitol Hill.
"The last vote went to Speaker Johnson. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told reporters, "He was the one who made the warrant amendment fail." "What is the difference between Johnson and Pelosi?" "There is not one," she said, referring to Nancy Pelosi, who used to be Speaker of the House.
There is no way that a Republican Speaker could vote against subpoena requirements for American citizens after this process was clearly abused to spy on Donald Trump and his campaign, wrote Florida Rep. Greg Steube on X.
On Friday night, Johnson is going to meet Trump in Florida. The two people are likely to talk about renewing FISA.
There were 273 negative votes and 147 positive votes in favor of funding Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) of 1978. Written in 2008, Section 702 made a program that was once secret legal. It lets US intelligence agencies listen in on phone and internet calls made from outside the US through American networks like Google.
The program seems to be aimed at outsiders, but it also "indirectly" gathers information from millions of American citizens that can be viewed without a court order. Data made public in 2022 shows that the FBI looked into the computer records of about 3.4 million Americans in 2021.
On Wednesday, 19 right lawmakers stopped a routine vote. This meant that Johnson could not hold a full floor vote on the extension of Section 702. Former President Donald Trump backed the 19 Republicans and told them to "kill FISA," saying that the FBI "illegally used" the law to spy on his 2016 campaign.
But early Friday morning, the rebels agreed that there would be a vote if Johnson cut Section 702's funding from five years to two. There was also a vote on an amendment that would require the FBI and other spy agencies to get warrants before using the program against Americans.
An odd coalition of left-wing progressives and strict conservatives voted 212 times in favor of the change and 212 times against it. Johnson, however, used his tie-breaking vote to defeat the amendment. This means that Americans can continue to be wiretapped without a request, which has angered Trump's supporters on Capitol Hill.
"The last vote went to Speaker Johnson. Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene told reporters, "He was the one who made the warrant amendment fail." "What is the difference between Johnson and Pelosi?" "There is not one," she said, referring to Nancy Pelosi, who used to be Speaker of the House.
There is no way that a Republican Speaker could vote against subpoena requirements for American citizens after this process was clearly abused to spy on Donald Trump and his campaign, wrote Florida Rep. Greg Steube on X.
On Friday night, Johnson is going to meet Trump in Florida. The two people are likely to talk about renewing FISA.
