WASHINGTON (NEWSnet/AP) — A House bill that would renew a national security surveillance program was blocked Wednesday by some conservatives, leaving the act's status uncertain.

The bill in question would reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which permits the U.S. government to collect without a warrant the communications of non-Americans located outside the country to gather foreign intelligence.

The procedural vote to bring up the bill Wednesday failed 193-228, with nearly 20 Republicans voting no. It remains unclear now if the proposal, backed by the Biden administration and Johnson, would eventually have enough votes to advance.

The legislative vote happened after former President Donald Trump issued a request via social media to “kill" the measure.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has called the program “critically important” but has struggled to find a path forward on the issue.

Though the FISA program would technically expire on April 19, the Biden administration has said it expects its authority to collect intelligence to remain operational for at least another year. 

The reauthorization is currently tied to a series of reforms aimed to answer critics who complained of civil liberties violations against Americans.

But Republican opponents have complained that those changes did not go far enough. Among the detractors are some of Johnson’s harshest critics, members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus.

 

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