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House Delays Vote on FISA 702 Extension as GOP Split Deepens

The setback highlights rifts over a law that lets agencies collect foreigners’ communications without warrants, which can also pull in Americans’ messages.

President Donald Trump speaks with reporters outside the Oval Office of the White House, Monday, April 13, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., stops to gaggle with reporters after a news conference in the Capitol last month.
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Former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene participates in a House Oversight Committee hearing in Washington, D.C. on September 28, 2023.

Overview

  • House leaders postponed the planned procedural vote Wednesday after bipartisan pushback, putting an 18‑month extension of Section 702 at risk just days before the April 20 expiration.
  • The clean reauthorization cleared the Rules Committee Tuesday on a party‑line vote, and leaders signaled they may try again with minor changes to win over holdouts.
  • President Donald Trump urged Republicans to "UNIFY" behind a clean bill and said he is willing to accept personal risk to keep the authority in place.
  • CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Gen. Dan Caine warned Congress that losing or curbing 702 would weaken U.S. intelligence and increase danger to troops as operations continue against Iran.
  • Conservatives and many Democrats want guardrails such as warrants for searches of Americans and a ban on buying Americans’ data from brokers, citing large numbers of past "backdoor searches," including 278,000 queries in 2020–2021 and 57,000 in 2023.