Democrat Pushes GOP Leadership To Renew Warrantless Spying Before His Party Takes Power

House Intelligence Committee ranking member Jim Himes pushed Senate Republican leadership Tuesday to reauthorize a warrantless spying tool before Democrats take the majority.

Himes, a Democrat from Connecticut, told Politico he spoke to Senate Majority Leader John Thune about reauthorizing Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows the government to collect and search American citizens’ data without a warrant if they were in contact with targeted noncitizens. Democrats blocked the reauthorization of Section 702 over the summer and have since remained split on its passage.

“My preference would be, let’s just take the win that’s on the table, get it done in the lame-duck,” Himes said. “If that fails, we’ll do something in the first quarter.”

Section 702 lapsed on June 12 after Democrats voted against its reauthorization. The Democrats’ vote was in retaliation against Federal Housing Director Bill Pulte’s temporary appointment as director of national intelligence before the Senate confirmed Jay Clayton.

Republican Sens. Mike Lee of Utah, Rand Paul of Kentucky, Josh Hawley of Missouri and four other Senate Republicans voted against its reauthorization during a June 5 vote. Lee argued that a warrant must be added before the government spies on Americans.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, Democratic Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren and Democratic Connecticut Sen. Chris Murphy told the Daily Caller News Foundation in July that they would not support reauthorizing Section 702 when Clayton took power. Senate Intelligence Committee Vice Chair Mark Warner and Democratic Arizona Sen. Mark Kelly told Politico they supported the renewal without a warrant.

Nineteen House Republicans, including Tim Burchett of Tennessee and Thomas Massie of Kentucky, voted against extending the reauthorization the day before its expiration. Massie and House Freedom Caucus members have historically opposed or conditioned support on reforms.

Massie and Republican Rep. Lauren Boebert of Colorado introduced the “Surveillance Accountability Act” on April 23, which would require federal law enforcement to show probable cause before accessing Americans’ private digital data.

Trump called for the passage of FISA section 702 in an April 15 statement, though he spent years opposing the program until the lead up to the Iran war. Weeks before the U.S. entered the conflict on Feb. 28, administration officials arranged a meeting with lawmakers in early February to promote FISA programs without changes.

The president’s position changed after the 2024 election, when Trump called to “KILL FISA” because it was used illegally to spy on his campaign. A Department of Justice (DOJ) inspector general’s report found “significant inaccuracies” in the FBI applications for FISA warrants against a Trump campaign adviser, and the DOJ later conceded that two of the four orders were invalid.

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