The Senate is preparing a weekslong punt for an expiring spy law after House Republicans linked a longer-term extension to a digital currency ban that is DOA across the Capitol.

“We’re probably going to end up doing a short-term,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday, adding that leadership is currently “running the traps” on a short-term extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.

Thune said that punt would last about 45 days, putting the new deadline in mid-June.

The decision to do another short-term extension comes as the surveillance power is set to expire Thursday night. The House passed a three-year extension of the surveillance law Wednesday, but Republicans are attaching a permanent ban on the Federal Reserve issuing a digital currency.

Thune publicly warned House Republicans against the step Tuesday, calling the combination a “bad idea” that would be “dead on arrival” in the Senate.

Thune said that Speaker Mike Johnson, who he met with Wednesday, is aware of the plan to pass a short-term FISA extension. He added that he told the Louisiana Republican that the Senate “can’t move a bill” that has the currency ban attached.

The House would also need to approve any short-term extension before midnight Thursday to avoid any lapse in the surveillance power, which allows intelligence agencies to monitor foreigners abroad but also sweeps up communications involving Americans — alarming civil libertarians.

The House passed a three-year reauthorization of a key spy power Wednesday, sending the extension to the Senate one day before it is set to expire.

A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers voted 235-191 to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act after weeks of agonizing negotiations and intraparty disputes.

But the saga isn’t over yet. The Senate is unlikely to clear the House-passed extension, which will be sent over with an unrelated, permanent ban on the Federal Reserve’s ability to issue a digital currency attached.

That provision was included at the behest of ultraconservatives, but it is so divisive across the Capitol that it has stalled a major affordable housing package for months. Senate Majority Leader John Thune earlier this week warned that the digital currency ban was “not happening” as part of spy law renewal.

That means the Senate could send its own version of a Section 702 extension back to the House with just hours to spare before the law expires Thursday night.

The major U.S. spy program targets foreigners but also sweeps up data on Americans in the process, and privacy hawks on both sides of the aisle are demanding new guardrails to prevent the federal government from conducting warrantless surveillance on its own citizens.

After initially pushing for a White House-backed straight 18-month extension, GOP leaders agreed to add clarifications on Fourth Amendment protections and additional penalties for privacy violations to get many holdouts on board.

As Democrats seek to define a cost-of-living agenda ahead of the midterms, House members in the party’s left flank let loose an opening salvo Wednesday.

The Congressional Progressive Caucus laid out 10 prospective bills aimed at lowering the costs of prescription drugs, utilities, gas, child care, housing and more.

“This is the Progressive Caucus’ idea of what government should be doing for you every single day,” Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas), the group’s chair, told reporters. “We think these ideas are not just progressive, but they are common sense. This is what all House Democrats should be able to unify around.”

Democrats have made “affordability” the centerpiece of their 2026 messaging, seizing on polling that shows broad dissatisfaction with the economy under a Republican trifecta.

Despite the success that New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani and Govs. Abigail Spanberger of Virginia and Mikie Sherrill of New Jersey saw in using that agenda to win elections last year, House Democratic leaders have yet to outline detailed legislative plans for a potential turn in the majority.

That vacuum has left room for the left and center wings of the party to propose their own visions.

The centrist New Democratic Coalition laid out their “Affordability Agenda” earlier this year, and while the CPC’s “New Affordability Agenda” targets many overlapping issues, it also addresses key progressive priorities such as guaranteeing paid time off and abolishing super PACs.

During a news conference Wednesday, progressive leaders emphasized they want take on “corporate greed” as a vehicle to lower costs — an idea they hope will gain momentum with the party writ large.

Casar said he has been discussing these proposals with House Democratic leaders since he became the CPC’s leader in 2024. He called them “the kinds of consensus bills that we can govern on.”

“These bills win in Trump districts and Democratic districts and in swing districts all across the country,” he said.