Last week’s debt ceiling deal is a roadmap for how House Republicans can change the direction of the federal government.

With the upcoming expiration of section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), a critical intelligence collection authority, House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA), has the opportunity to repeat his success. By passing a bill that reauthorizes section 702 while meaningfully reforming the partisan abuses of the intelligence community, House Republicans can demonstrate their ability to govern responsibly as well as conservatively.

Just a few weeks ago, the press was amplifying Democrats’ claims that linking fiscal reforms to the debt ceiling was blackmail. The administration’s game plan was to refuse all negotiations and to paint Republicans’ call for concessions as irresponsible. The press was full of stories about the disastrous consequences of a default and broad hints that they could all be blamed on House Republicans.

None of that worked. Instead, McCarthy unified Republicans around a bill that extended the ceiling while also adopting a host of GOP priorities.

Mustering a Republican majority for actual legislation changed everything. It forced the administration to abandon its “no negotiations” posture and begin making concessions. And once negotiations began, the administration was bargaining off a Republican list of demands. The result was that President Joe Biden signed a bill with real spending cuts and regulatory reforms.

The story of the debt ceiling isn’t just a welcome sign that the House Republican caucus is ready to govern. It is a road map for how Republicans can continue to parlay a narrow majority into legislative power.

The most obvious opportunity to repeat this GOP success will come before the end of the year. That’s when section 702 of FISA will expire if not renewed.

Section 702 is the single most effective intelligence authority conferred by Congress. It was adopted to plug a gap in foreign and domestic intelligence collection that caused our agencies to miss their best chance at stopping the 9/11 attack. It has prevented other terror attacks, and it has more recently been instrumental in combating cyberattacks and Chinese espionage.

But it has long been a target of left-wing Democrats, and they have been joined more recently by Republicans who suspect that leaders of the FBI and other intelligence agencies used their powers in a partisan fashion against Donald Trump, both as candidate and president.

Those suspicions are not unfounded.

The Durham report recounts the FBI’s embrace of Clinton campaign falsehoods to sustain an investigation of a Trump/Russia connection. The FBI’s wiretaps of Trump hanger-on Carter Page were based on errors so appalling they can only be explained by gross negligence or malice. Similarly, 51 former intelligence officials lent their names to a blatantly political — and false — claim that Hunter Biden’s laptop was probably Russian disinformation.

For Republicans, the renewal of section 702 presents much the same dilemma as raising the debt limit. It would be satisfying to punish the intelligence community by denying it a precious authority, but the consequences could be catastrophic for the country. And there is no doubt that if section 702 goes down, the press will blame Republicans for every terror attack and national security calamity in the next 20 years.

The House Republican game plan for section 702 ought to come straight out of the debt ceiling fight, though this time, the GOP starts from a stronger position. That’s because the administration quite rightly sees section 702 reauthorization as “must pass” legislation — and this time, it has already signaled its willingness to accept reforms as part of the package.

The trick for House leadership is to repeat its debt ceiling success: First, produce a bill with meaningful reforms that almost all House Republicans can support and that don’t destroy the value of the 702 program, then negotiate with the administration.

The good news is that, unlike some of the left-wing proposals to impose search warrant standards on the program or searches of its data, most of the GOP complaints about partisan conduct can be addressed without crippling section 702 or other intelligence programs.

As we’ve argued before , Republicans should focus on reforms that address the politicization of the intelligence community. These reforms might include requiring investigations of intelligence leaks aimed at domestic political targets, prohibiting former intelligence officials from engaging in partisan politics while they still hold security clearances, and prohibiting the government from monitoring “disinformation” from domestic sources.

The reauthorization of section 702 is a prime opportunity for Republicans to demand these reforms and others aimed at the demonstrated and suspected intelligence abuses of the last seven years.

As the debt ceiling fight shows, if Republicans first stick together, then negotiate with the administration, they’ll come out of the deal with a strong package of wins.

Stewart Baker, a Washington lawyer, has held multiple national security positions in government, including general counsel of the National Security Agency in 1992-94. Michael Ellis has served in senior positions in Congress, the White House, and the Intelligence Community, including as senior director for intelligence programs on the National Security Council staff.