House Republicans brought down their own speaker’s third attempt to reauthorize a controversial spy power on Wednesday, marking a fresh blow to the perpetually embattled Speaker Mike Johnson.
Now, GOP leaders are scrambling to find a new plan to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act after 19 House Republicans voted to block a plan to change a section of the law that allows the intelligence community to gather and sort the communications of foreign targets without a warrant.
Johnson plowed ahead with efforts to bring the bill to the floor despite growing angst in his right flank and former President Donald Trump urging Republicans to kill the larger surveillance law. Congress now has no clear path to extending a program that administrations in both parties have touted as vital to national security before its April 19 expiration.
As Johnson prepared to pull his members into a closed-door meeting later Wednesday, he told reporters: “We will regroup and reformulate another plan. We cannot allow [the authority] to expire. It’s too important for national security.”
But House conservatives, who marched outside to hold an impromptu press conference after the bill ran aground, are warning they not only take issue with the policy behind the wiretapping proposal – but the path Johnson took to get there.
“That’s been a very convoluted process … It has been decidedly manipulated right now to make sure certain amendments can’t be heard,” said Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), one of the 19 Republicans who blocked the bill. He characterized Washington as “disappointment theater.”
Republicans will now try in private to bridge their deep divides — a task that a morning meeting on Wednesday did not accomplish, nor have previous private meetings after frustrating stumbles on the House floor.
Johnson could try to pass a bill under a higher two-thirds threshold for passage, but it’s far from clear that he could manage that by winning over enough Democratic votes.
The surveillance legislation negotiated by leadership was aimed at improving the transparency and oversight of the program, but it didn’t include the sweeping changes pushed for a bipartisan coalition that spans privacy-minded progressives and libertarian-leaning Republicans.
Johnson had warned as part of his pitch to his unruly conference that, if they fell short yet again, the Senate would likely try to jam them with an extension of the spy power that made no changes to prevent attempted overreach.
His warning didn’t keep his conference from bucking him in the spy power battle once again. GOP leadership watched on the floor in real time as the opponents in their own ranks climbed from the handful of Republicans already on the record as “no” to nearly 20.
Several Republican lawmakers were unsure as they headed to the vote about whether their leaders could actually start debate on the bill. It’s the latest in a string of conservative rebellions that have scuttled the GOP’s legislative priorities.
Rep. Drew Ferguson (R-Ga.) quipped that “I guess we’ll see.” Rep. Kelly Armstrong (R-N.D.) added of risk that the rule could fail: “This is why we can’t have nice things.”
The failure follows two previous setbacks for Johnson, who has watched competing factions within his conference sink his surveillance plans. Barely 72 hours ago, several Republican aides involved in the negotiations indicated that they thought the party would at least get the votes to start debate.
This time, the implosion came hours after former President Donald Trump urged Republicans to “KILL” the law.
Notably, Johnson angered his conference at two key moments during the third round of the surveillance fight: First, he prevented a vote on an amendment from Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) that would block data brokers from selling consumer information to law enforcement. The proposal had sparked fierce pushback from Intelligence Committee Republicans, and leadership instead had offered a potential stand-alone vote this week.
But the second, and potentially bigger, moment came when Johnson indicated he opposed a bipartisan amendment that would require a warrant before searching data collected by the surveillance program for information related to Americans. Johnson’s position was first reported by POLITICO on Monday and swift backlash quickly followed.
His right flank is asking for commitments on both of those issues, plus a shorter reauthorization period — something that would likely sink it with intelligence community allies in Congress.
Johnson addressed the warrant amendment in a closed-door conference on Wednesday, saying that he thought the proposal was overly broad.
Supporters of the warrant requirement, many of whom were the speaker’s former Judiciary Committee colleagues, had hoped he would stay on the sidelines. Although the intelligence community and its allies believe a warrant requirement would gut the surveillance authority, a bipartisan coalition of privacy hawks viewed this debate as their best shot.
“The Speaker of the House put his finger on the scale, against the amendment. And that pretty much is the story,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas).
Nicholas Wu and Daniella Diaz contributed.
