Vote harder, everyone.
A bill to renew a key federal government surveillance tool passed the House of Representatives on Friday, teeing it up for a Senate vote about a week before it's set to expire.
A modified version of the original bill passed a procedural hurdle late on Thursday after a group of 19 conservative privacy hawks sunk the House GOP's chance at passing it earlier this week.
The legislation is aimed at reforming Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows the government to surveil foreigners abroad with suspected terror links without a warrant. Section 702 allows the FBI to collect communications of a narrow list of foreign targets, even if the person on the other end of the suspect's communications is an American.
The battle over its renewal has put Johnson in a tough spot between privacy and national security hawks within his conference, while he also navigates a razor-thin majority of just two seats.
National security hawks and members of the intelligence community have called it a critical tool for preventing another 9/11-style attack. However, critics, including both conservatives and progressives, have been seeking to limit its scope after reported instances of abuse to collect data on Americans.
The national "intelligence" community considers Americans to be the greatest threat in the world. We're a threat to their cushy jobs and unchecked, undeserved power.
It was tense in the House chamber on Friday when that amendment [to require a warrant to spy on Americans] -- which ultimately failed to pass in a 212 to 212 vote -- was being considered. Johnson cast a critical and potentially decisive vote against the amendment.
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They were also backed by former President Donald Trump, who pushed back on the RISA bill on Wednesday morning, declaring on Truth Social, "KILL FISA."
The renewal is for only two years, so we can go through this whole Failure Theater production again in 2026.
And if you like that, you'll love this -- Johnson is negotiating with the White House about a Ukraine aid bill.
There will, of course, be no change in the country's illegally-imposed open borders "law."
House Speaker Mike Johnson is negotiating with the White House as he prepares for the treacherous task of advancing wartime funding for Ukraine and Israel through the House, a top House Republican said Thursday.
House Republican Leader Steve Scalise told reporters that Johnson had been talking with White House officials about a package that would deviate from the Senate's $95 billion foreign security package and include several Republican demands. It comes after Johnson has delayed for months on advancing aid that would provide desperately needed ammunition and weaponry for Kyiv, trying to find the right time to advance a package that will be a painful political lift.
"There's been no agreement reached," Scalise said. "Obviously there would have to be an agreement reached not just with the White House, but with our own members."
Johnson, R-La., is being stretched between a Republican conference deeply divided in its support for Ukraine, as well as two presidential contenders at odds over the U.S.'s posture towards the rest of the world. President Joe Biden has repeatedly chastised Republicans for not helping Ukraine, saying they are doing the bidding of Russian President Vladimir Putin and hurting U.S. security. Meanwhile, Donald Trump, the presumptive Republican candidate, has said he would negotiate an end to the conflict as he tries to push the U.S. to a more isolationist stance.
The Republican speaker is set to travel to the former president's Mar-a-Lago club in Florida on Friday to meet with Trump and has been consulting him in recent weeks on the Ukraine funding to gain his support -- or at least prevent him from openly opposing the package.
Trump would not oppose a funding bill that included border enforcement provisions.
So this "package" will not have it.
Failure Theater, Failure Theater, Failure Theater forever.
"Don't call my bluff," Obama famously said.
That's the entire GOP right there -- "Don't call our bluff which is obviously a bluff and also we want you to win. We just have to put on a bit of a show for our uneducated Bible-thumping racist voters, who we quite openly despise."
Hey everyone get out there and vote like dopes!