Jeffries says Democrats will oppose rule governing spy powers bill

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) said Thursday that Democrats are lining up en masse against helping Republicans advance legislation to a final vote to extend the government’s warrantless surveillance powers.

Jeffries acknowledged that the vote on the bill itself will divide Democrats, and he declined to say how he will vote himself. 

“But what you can expect is that every single Democrat will oppose the rule,” he told reporters in the Capitol. “And then we’ll see where we go from there.”

GOP leaders are scrambling to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which allows federal intelligence officials to gather communications from foreigners living abroad. The provision is highly controversial because the process inevitably captures........

© The Hill