


Neither of the two bills to reauthorize and reform a powerful spy tool used by American intelligence agencies will be voted on this week after the Rules Committee pulled the legislation amid intense backlash.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), who sits on the Rules Committee, confirmed to the Washington Examiner that neither the House Judiciary nor Intelligence Committee bills to reauthorize and reform Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act would be voted on this week.
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The original plan was to put both bills on the floor and allow members to vote for them, and whichever one received the most votes would be the one the House advanced.
But, after a heated conference meeting where Rep. Warren Davidson (R-OH), who sits on the Judiciary Committee and helped craft that version of the bill, accused Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Turner (R-OH) of “f***ing lying” about the Judiciary bill, the tides started to shift away from the “queen of the hill” scenario.
After the meeting, multiple members expressed dissatisfaction with the “queen of the hill” tactic and wanted Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to choose one bill and stick with it.
“I think the former speaker said it very well when he said we should take the time it takes to get one bill and take the time it takes to get it right,” said Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), a member of the Judiciary Committee.
Davidson said that he wished the situation with FISA would have “been handled better" and going forward he hopes that “it's handled well from here on out.”
Now, with the bills being punted until next year, it theoretically gives committees the time to work out the differences. The House is also expected to vote on the National Defense Authorization Act on Thursday, which includes a short-term extension of FISA until April 19, 2024, something certain members also oppose.
“I’m really disappointed that we're talking about a four-month extension in the authorities of FISA,” Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), who helped author the Judiciary Committee bill, said. “... So we should be laboring through to get this thing done, in my opinion.”
Under Section 702 of FISA, the federal government can surveil foreigners without a warrant for national security purposes. The collected information becomes part of a vast database of foreign intelligence that incidentally includes information about U.S. citizens who may have been communicating with people overseas.
There have been documented abuses of FISA. Because of this, most members want reforms but disagree on what those reforms should be.
One of the main differences is the warrant requirement. The Judiciary Committee’s version would require all FISA queries on U.S. citizens to obtain probable cause warrants, whereas the Intelligence Committee’s version only includes a warrant requirement for FBI officials, and the warrant requirement would only apply to a limited number of situations.
But, Johnson did not take a side on the matter and instead let the two committees duke it out behind closed doors, which led to the hostile conference meeting, where Turner accused the Judiciary bill of allowing child pornographers to walk free and Davidson used a profanity toward Turner.
This is just one of many flip-flops by Johnson, who in recent weeks has been unable to make a decision on FISA and stick to it.
When asked why Johnson was unable to make a decision, Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) told reporters that “you’d have to ask the speaker.”
First, he announced a short-term extension of the program, then he switched and said the House would not go through with that, then one day later — to many member’s surprise — he announced that they were attaching a clean short-term extension to the NDAA but would go through with voting on a final reauthorization bill before Congress left for the year.
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And then Monday night, Johnson flipped again, and both bills were pulled.
“Typical Mike. Scared of his own shadow. Can’t ever tell someone no. He’s playing minor league baseball right now,” a senior GOP aide told the Washington Examiner.