House eyes clean FISA reauthorization vote that will be tricky

House GOP leaders are aiming for a clean reauthorization of key provisions of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) next week, a vote that could be tricky given demands from conservative Republicans on reforms and on the unrelated SAVE America Act voting bill.

Section 702 of FISA, which authorizes surveillance of foreign nationals outside the U.S., expires April 20. GOP leaders in the House are hoping to clear the reauthorization well ahead of time due to a scheduled two-week recess in the House in early April and to give the Senate time to process the legislation.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) confirmed on Tuesday that “the plan is to move a clean extension of FISA … for at least 18 months,” arguing that the provision is responsible for “intelligence that we use to protect and keep Americans safe.”

Trump administration officials, including FBI Director Kash Patel and CIA Director John Ratcliffe, briefed House members about FISA on Wednesday ahead of the potential vote.

Hard-line conservatives in the House GOP conference, though, have long called for reforms to the warrantless spying programs authorized by the bill that can, and do, pick up the communications of Americans — and see the must-pass bill as a way to leverage support for their unrelated priorities.

Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) has also pushed for attaching the SAVE America Act, a Trump-supported bill to require ID to cast a ballot and proof of citizenship for voter registration, to FISA as a way to pressure the Senate to pass it. The upper chamber is debating the voting bill this week, but it is not expected to pass.

“The Senate would literally walk over broken glass in order to pass” the FISA bill, Luna said on Fox Business Network on Wednesday. “I believe this is actually how we’re going to get it done.”

And Rep. Lauren Boebert (R-Colo.) said Tuesday that she has told House Republican leadership that she is “a NO on FISA as it stands,” but that she “MIGHT feel differently” if the Senate passes the SAVE America Act.

Democrats, meanwhile, are warning that attaching the voting bill would kill their support. 

“That would lose every Democratic vote,” said Rep. Jim Himes (Conn.), the senior Democrat on the Intelligence Committee. “That’s not gonna happen.” 

While FISA reauthorization has historically passed the House with bipartisan support, House GOP leaders must first contend with how to get to that final vote.

Bringing the bill up through a normal process would require a procedural rule vote along party lines — votes that have consistently given GOP leaders headaches in the razor-slim House GOP majority, in which leaders can afford to lose no more than one Republican on any party-line vote if there is full attendance. Boebert said she would be a no on the rule for FISA, and others suggested they might follow suit.

“I think if this was going to go the route of the rule, we’d have to talk about a couple of minor reforms,” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.) told reporters after the briefing, adding that he was not sure if he would vote for a rule for a clean extension.

To get around a conservative blockade on the procedural vote, GOP leaders could opt to bring up the bill under suspension of the rules, which would require a two-thirds vote of the House for passage — meaning substantial support from Democrats.

But it’s not clear that Democrats would deliver those votes.

“If the Republicans can pass a rule — big ‘if’ — I think this passes with good, strong bipartisan support,” said Himes. “A suspension is a different matter entirely. I don’t know if we can get to 290.”

The issue has historically divided Democrats — and this year will be no different — but the numbers are tough to pinpoint.

Many Democrats, particularly those on the Intelligence Committee, are expected to support the clean reauthorization as a matter of national security. Many others, especially those on the Judiciary Committee, are lining up to oppose it without tougher privacy safeguards.

“We’re going to be divided,” said Rep. Greg Meeks (D-N.Y.), the senior Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee.

Meeks said he’s supporting the measure after talking with Himes.

“I know the improvements that have been made,” Meeks said. “I think it’s in our best interest for national security purposes.”

Other Democrats aren’t convinced. 

“There is no way I’m going to give the Trump administration this mass surveillance authority,” said Rep. Ted Lieu (D-Calif.), the vice chairman of the Democratic Caucus. “And it’s not just the Trump administration. It is any administration, Democratic or Republican.” 

Lieu, a member of the Judiciary Committee, pointed to the recent clash between the Pentagon and Anthropic over the company’s insistence on certain guardrails surrounding the use of the emerging AI technology. 

“The Department of Defense clearly has signaled they want to use AI for mass domestic surveillance,” Lieu said.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) acknowledged the internal divisions but declined to say which side he’ll take. 

“We haven’t had that discussion as a caucus yet, so I’m going to reserve my decision,” he said. 

GOP leaders, meanwhile, are hoping that privacy-focused lawmakers will soften when reminded of reforms that were included as part of the last FISA reauthorization bill in 2024, such as requiring agents to get approval before searching the 702 database for information that might concern Americans. An amendment to implement a warrant requirement for Americans’ data swept up in foreign surveillance, though, failed in a tie vote.

“Last time it was up for reauthorization, we instituted 56 substantive reforms to FISA,” Johnson said. “By every measure and review, those are working just as we planned. We’ve not had the abuses that were happening before those reforms.”

In a sign that FISA reauthorization could face less overall resistance from Republicans than in the past, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), the chair of the House Judiciary Committee who previously sought major FISA reforms, told The Hill in an interview Wednesday that he will vote in favor of a clean FISA reauthorization. 

“It’s a whole different context today — 2026, not 2024. And you know, we got something like 56 reforms in the legislation last year, and they’ve made a huge difference,” Jordan said. “I think it’s a completely different framework.”

Rebecca Beitsch contributed.

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