President Donald Trump wants Congress to sidestep internal debates and extend a key surveillance program — and he has made the demand directly to key Hill Republicans.

At issue is the foreign spy program known as Section 702, which is set to lapse on April 20. Lawmakers in both parties want to put new restrictions to prevent the intelligence community from searching program data for Americans without a warrant.

Trump has instead asked for a straight extension with no changes, according to Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton and three other senior lawmakers who were granted anonymity to discuss the private request.

“President Trump has requested a simple, clean extension and I support the commander-in-chief on this vital national-security decision,” Cotton (R-Ark.) said in a statement.

Trump recently told House Intelligence Committee Chair Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) and Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) that he wanted a clean extension, according to a congressional aide familiar with the discussion.

Rep. Jim Himes (D-Conn.), the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, said Crawford told him this week Trump wants a straight extension.

“The chairman and a variety of other people have told me that the president is pushing [an] 18-month clean authorization,” Himes said.

Spokespeople for the White House, Johnson, Crawford and Jordan didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Trump’s backing for a clean extension comes as top White House staffers have been privately lobbying for a clean extension of at least 18 months, including top domestic policy adviser Stephen Miller. Some intelligence community allies have privately floated going even longer — up to three years, according to one GOP lawmaker granted anonymity to discuss private discussions with the administration.

Even with Trump’s private edict, a clean extension faces an uncertain path in the House, where a bipartisan coalition of privacy hawks have long demanded sweeping changes to the spy power. People familiar with the vote-counting effort don’t believe it can clear the two-thirds-majority bar for fast-track passage, and GOP lawmakers and senior aides are skeptical their party could unite behind a necessary procedural measure to put it on the floor.

Himes said that while Trump’s vote of confidence could help rally Republicans, it could scare off some Democrats.

“We now have a president who has shown disdain for the law, disdain for the Congress, and an awful lot of my Democrats are going to point that out and say, ‘Hey, I supported this when we actually had a president who supported the law — tell me again why I should support it now,’” he said.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer defended Democrats for refusing to stand at the State of the Union Tuesday night when President Donald Trump implored both parties to rise if they believe the first duty of the government is to protect American citizens, not undocumented immigrants.

“We agree we need to protect Americans,” Schumer told BLN on Wednesday. “He’s not. By his reckless ICE agency in Minnesota, two Americans were killed. Americans are being pulled out of their cars and beaten. Americans’ houses, the doors are being knocked down, you know, without a warrant.”

Republicans were quick to capitalize on the moment — a visual of Trump gesturing to the Democrats still seated in the chamber while Republicans stood and clapped for well over a minute. They said it could haunt Democrats ahead of the 2026 midterms

“Unbelievable that Democrats would not stand to reaffirm the American government’s first duty is to American citizens, NOT illegal aliens,” Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson wrote on X.

Schumer told BLN that it’s the president who is failing to live up to that ideal.

“No other police department in America run by Americans has done what ICE has done,” he said. “So, yes, we want to protect Americans. He’s not doing it. And that’s why the American people are against what ICE is doing. So it was legitimate and right not to stand.”

President Donald Trump littered his record-breaking, nearly two-hour-long State of the Union address Tuesday night with dramatic tributes to American heroes, caustic attacks on congressional Democrats and a preview of his party’s midterm campaign pitch.

But he also sprinkled in a handful of legislative demands that have uneven prospects at best on Capitol Hill. Here’s what caught our ears:

— Targeting noncitizens: Trump repeatedly railed against illegal immigration and pushed lawmakers to pass the SAVE America Act, the GOP bill that would tighten proof-of-citizenship standards for voting.

“Why would anyone not want voter ID?” Trump said at one point. “One reason — they want to cheat.”

But the bigger news might be what Trump didn’t mention: A hard-right push to use a “talking filibuster” to get the House-passed bill past Senate Democrats. In what was likely a big relief for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, the president didn’t mention the filibuster at all.

Trump also called for passage of “Dalilah’s Law,” which would bar states from granting driver’s licenses to undocumented immigrants.

— Health care: The president pressed Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson to take the most-favored-nation drug-pricing deals he’s recently struck with pharmaceutical companies and enact them into law.

“I’m not sure it matters, because it’s going to be very hard for somebody that comes along after me to say, ‘Let’s raise drug prices by 700 or 800 percent,’” Trump said. “But John and Mike, if you don’t mind, codify it anyway.”

But the provision faces big opposition from the prescription drug industry and its allies inside the GOP.

Completely unmentioned? The expired Obamacare subsidies, which now seem like ancient history in Washington. Trump only briefly mentioned his “Great Health Care Plan” that would give money “directly to the people.”

— Stock trading: Trump drew bipartisan applause after endorsing a ban on stock trading by members of Congress. But getting a bill on Trump’s desk will be tough.

Johnson’s leadership-blessed legislation to crack down on the practice is in limbo, without enough GOP support to put it up for a vote. Democrats are pushing for a more expansive stock trading bill, which would also apply to the president and vice president.

Even if the House can pass something, the Senate is seen as even more unlikely to act.

— Crime: The president included a demand for lawmakers to pass “tough legislation to ensure violent repeat offenders are put behind bars and, more importantly, that they stay there.”

That called back to Trump’s multiple comments last summer about pursuing a sweeping crime bill, which never materialized into legislation. Rekindling the effort in an election year would be iffy at best.

— Housing: Trump renewed his request for Congress to limit large investors from purchasing single-family homes as the GOP tries to address a growing housing affordability crisis — an idea that has bipartisan support.

It comes as the House and Senate are working to reconcile competing legislative packages, and the White House push could help convince skeptical Republicans to include it in a final product.

“We want homes for people, not for corporations,” Trump said.

— Left unmentioned: There’s one area where the president conspicuously said lawmakers are free to sit on their hands: “Congressional action will not be necessary,” Trump said, to impose new global tariffs to replace the levies struck down by the Supreme Court last week in what he called a “very unfortunate” ruling.

And while Trump did discuss an expansion of a retirement savings program launched under former President Joe Biden, he did not call for new tax cuts or party-line economic measures to address rising prices — which he continued to blame on Democrats.

“Their policies created the high prices,” he said. “Our policies are rapidly ending them. We are doing really well.”

What else we’re watching: 

Lawmakers are set to grill two Trump nominees Wednesday morning who have come under fire for their records and financial ties.

— Steve Pearce for BLM: Steve Pearce’s appearance in front of the Senate Energy and Natural Resources Committee will be the former House Republican’s first opportunity to publicly push back against accusations from Democrats and conservation groups that he’s unfit to lead the Bureau of Land Management.

The committee’s top Democrat, Sen. Martin Heinrich of New Mexico, and Sen. John Hickenlooper (D-Colo.) will almost certainly zero in on Pearce’s voting record. When Pearce was in Congress, he opposed BLM efforts to tighten rules on the oil and gas industry and supported selling some BLM and Forest Service lands.

Pearce also reported that he earned as much as $1 million last year from a business often associated with oil and gas development.

— Casey Means for ‘America’s top doctor’: Over at the Senate HELP panel, all eyes will be on how hard Chair Bill Cassidy (R-La.) presses Casey Means, Trump’s pick to be U.S. surgeon general, over her stance on vaccines. Cassidy has repeatedly criticized Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s vaccine policy changes, and Means has previously condemned giving the hepatitis B shot to infants.

There’s also bipartisan criticism over Means’ credentials. The wellness influencer and health-tech entrepreneur’s medical license is currently listed online as inactive, and she has promoted contested health practices such as consuming raw milk.

Scott Streater, Nico Portuondo and Amanda Friedman contributed to this report.