DORAL, Florida — House Republican leaders plan to advance an 18-month extension of a key surveillance law ahead of an expiration deadline next month, Intelligence Chair Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said in interviews Tuesday.

The White House is backing the extension of the spy powers in question, known as Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, as the April 20 deadline approaches. The renewal would not include new restrictions on intelligence agencies supported by some lawmakers.

Scalise did not give specifics on when it would come up for a vote, but two people granted anonymity to discuss internal planning said GOP leaders are eyeing a floor vote the week of April 13.

“We’re going to be talking to all our members, like on any big issue,” Scalise said. “But the president’s made it clear why it’s important.”

President Donald Trump mentioned the renewal in his remarks to lawmakers gathered for the annual House GOP retreat Monday. But he threw a wrench into the plans for advancing a clean extension when he endorsed the idea of attaching the FISA reauthorization to the updated elections bill he called his “No. 1 priority.”

“Maybe you put them together, because a lot of people feel very strongly about FISA,” Trump said.

The surveillance measure is one of several must-pass bills Speaker Mike Johnson laid out for 2026 in a closed-door meeting with House Republicans Tuesday morning, according to four people in the room.

Crawford and Scalise did not rule out the possibility of attaching the GOP elections overhaul, known as the SAVE America Act, to the FISA extension.

“I’m open to whatever it takes to get things done and sometimes, you’ve got to be creative to get things done,” Crawford said. “It’s definitely a strategic way of getting it across the finish line potentially. We just have to see if that’s the appropriate course of action.”

Section 702, which allows the government to collect the data of noncitizens abroad without a warrant, could be an issue for hard-line conservatives, who were upset when it was extended in 2024.

Asked Tuesday if there plans to discuss the matter at the retreat, which continues till Wednesday, Crawford said, “Not yet, but the day is still young.”

DORAL, Florida — Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday he has discussed “our tone and our message” with the two House Republicans who have made anti-Muslim remarks in recent days but defended the right of the lawmakers to oppose “the imposition of Sharia law.”

“Look, there’s a lot of energy in the country, and a lot of popular sentiment, that the demand to impose Sharia law in America is a serious problem,” Johnson said at a news conference during the House GOP policy retreat at the Trump Doral resort. “That’s what animates me.”

Sharia law refers to a set of religious principles that guide devout Muslims, and Republicans often refer to it in the context of Islamic fundamentalism. Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) posted on social media Monday that “Muslims don’t belong in American society.”

“Pluralism is a lie,” he added, later following up with a graphic showing “what Islam offers” — some examples of which included “rape,” “beheadings” and “burning people alive.”

Rep. Randy Fine (R-Fla.) wrote in a post on X last month that “If they force us to choose, the choice between dogs and Muslims is not a difficult one.”

Neither Ogles nor Fine differentiated between the Muslim faith and Sharia law.

Johnson has been under pressure to condemn the rhetoric, particularly from Ogles, but the Louisiana Republican suggested Tuesday only that he regretted the choice of words, not the sentiment.

“Our Constitution is the greatest in the world. … And one of the principles that we believe in, stated first in the nation’s birth certificate, is that all of us are created equal by God,” said Johnson Tuesday. “We respect everyone’s beliefs and their right to live out their beliefs and to speak freely about their beliefs, and have that conviction.

“But when you seek to come to a country and not assimilate but to impose Sharia law … that is the conflict that people are talking about,” he added. “It’s not about people as Muslims, it is about people who seek to impose a different belief system that is in direct conflict with the constitution.”

House Appropriations Chair Tom Cole doesn’t think Congress should find spending cuts to offset the total cost of the Middle East war and the military spending request lawmakers expect from the administration in the coming days.

“I think war is never paid for when you fight it, it’s paid for over time,” the Oklahoma Republican said in an interview Tuesday. “We didn’t pay for World War II or Korea or World War I for that matter. I mean, so I don’t think it should be offset.”

“I have no doubt that some people will want to raise those questions,” Cole added. “I personally don’t see how you can do that.”