House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) quelled an open revolt Wednesday from fellow Republicans, who nearly blocked several high-profile bills from advancing in a chamber where he is steering legislation through a razor-thin and increasingly unruly majority.
A cohort of Republicans initially joined Democrats in voting against a procedural measure to begin debate on three major bills: legislation sought by the intelligence community to extend a warrantless surveillance program, a bill designed to help end a months-long shutdown of the Department of Homeland Security and another that sets U.S. farm policy.
But enough Republicans changed their votes after House leaders agreed to delay consideration of the farm bill. The vote was held open for more than two hours as Johnson cajoled holdouts on the floor. At one point, seven Republicans had indicated they were voting against the measure, which eventually passed without any GOP “no” votes.
The surveillance program is set to expire Thursday, and the Department of Homeland Security has now operated without new funding for more than two months.
The vote on a measure to extend the surveillance program by three years overcame fierce resistance from a group of Republicans who argued that the controversial tool threatens Americans’ civil liberties. If the bill passes the House later Wednesday, it will head to the Senate, where it is expected to pass despite outcry from civil libertarians.
Under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), the U.S. government can collect the texts, emails and phone calls of foreigners living overseas from American telecommunications firms without a warrant. It is set to expire Thursday.
“FISA needs to be gutted. Just start over, it’s not going to work,” said Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tennessee). “Nobody trusts it, it was used to spy on American citizens.”
Trump administration officials have called for Congress to extend the program without changes, arguing that Section 702 is essential to protecting U.S. citizens — from helping in hostage rescues to thwarting terrorist attacks.
But many civil libertarians in Congress, including members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, have long argued that the tool could infringe on Americans’ privacy rights, for example by collecting data on U.S. citizens communicating with foreigners.
Some Democrats too have worried that the Trump administration could exploit the law to spy on political enemies. Administration officials have disputed the assertion that Section 702 is vulnerable to abuse — and President Donald Trump, a past critic of FISA overall, has said the program is indispensable for the American military.
The House’s dramatic turnaround Wednesday reflects the challenges Johnson faces corralling fellow Republicans in the narrowly divided chamber, where Republicans can lose only two votes if everyone is present and all Democrats vote against them. The dynamic has allowed any Republican to slow down important legislation in an effort to secure their preferred policies, especially as the midterm elections loom.
Another bill that nearly got derailed as part of Wednesday’s procedural vote would allow Republicans to fund two agencies within DHS — Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Customs and Border Protection — through a process that doesn’t require Democratic votes. A handful of House Republicans had raised concerns about moving forward, seeking to add provisions to the package.
The Trump administration urged Congress to advance the funding proposal as soon as possible in a memo sent to House offices Tuesday night, and called for unity on the plan earlier this week.
GOP leaders also overcame a rebellion over the farm bill, which includes a provision that would protect pesticide makers like Bayer from lawsuits. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Florida) said she would “slaughter” the farm bill if the pesticide provision was not scrapped, though she acquiesced after receiving assurances that she could help shape the policy before it became law. Another set of GOP lawmakers wanted an amendment that would allow for the year-round sale of gasoline that contains up to 15 percent ethanol.
The lack of cohesion among GOP lawmakers has drawn criticism from Democrats regarding Johnson’s grip on the Republican conference.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Massachusetts) accused GOP leadership of “rushing” bills to the House Rules Committee, which sets the terms of how legislation will be considered on the floor, without securing the necessary support from their conference.
“This is like amateur hour,” he said. “Don’t you guys do your homework? Don’t you do Zoom calls on weekends to find out what your members think?”
Earlier in April, a group of House Republicans joined nearly all Democrats in blocking Johnson from extending the surveillance law, in a show of defiance against the Republican leader and Trump, who had dispatched top administration officials to Congress to secure their support.
Ahead of that vote, Trump called on lawmakers to pass the bill, writing in a social media post that the U.S. military “desperately needs FISA 702, and it is one of the reasons we have had such tremendous SUCCESS on the battlefield, both in Venezuela and Iran.”
To avoid a lapse in the program, which was set to expire April 20, Congress passed a 10-day extension so that the House could continue negotiations with the GOP holdouts. Johnson later unveiled a compromise proposal, which exchanged slight reforms to the program for a longer-term extension of three years. The changes have failed to sway many civil libertarians, though, who are demanding that any renewal require the government to first seek a warrant before using the tool.
“On FISA, a warrant requirement for 702 is the clear will of the House. Simply allow the amendment debate,” Rep. Warren Davidson (Ohio), one of the Republican defectors, posted on social mediaTuesday.
Administration officials say obtaining a warrant can be a lengthy process that could delay the provision of critical intelligence for national security purposes.
Mariana Alfaro contributed to this report.
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