Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday he is not willing to add any amendments to a straight extension of a key spy powers law, as he tries to overcome a GOP hard-liner rebellion fueled by privacy concerns.

“It’s going to be a clean extension,” Johnson told reporters. “If we put amendments on it, it jeopardizes its passage. And it’s far too important.”

Johnson is preparing to push an 18-month extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act through the House Rules Committee this afternoon. He doesn’t yet have the votes to then advance the measure on the floor later this week, according to three people granted anonymity to discuss the talks.

Republicans, including members of leadership, have discussed a backup plan that would be a shorter extension. But they’re likely only willing to take that step if the current proposal fails on the floor.

Some House GOP holdouts privately say White House officials and GOP leaders are trying to strong-arm them into accepting a clean FISA extension, despite their concerns about American citizens being swept up in government surveillance.

Olivia Troye, a first-term Trump administration staffer who emerged as a vocal critic of the president in 2020, is launching a run for Congress as a Democrat in Virginia.

In a Tuesday campaign launch video, Troye cast herself as the candidate best positioned to take on President Donald Trump, pointing to the president bypassing Congress in sending federal immigration agents to U.S. cities and starting a war in Iran.

“Trump doesn’t scare me,” she said. “I took him on when it mattered the most. And I’m ready to do it again. It’s time to send some real courage to Congress.”

Troye worked for then-Vice President Mike Pence during Trump’s first term, advising him on counterterrorism and homeland security. She also served on the White House’s coronavirus task force before leaving the administration in a public split months before the 2020 presidential election.

Troye then became an active critic of Trump, slamming the president for minimizing the Covid-19 pandemic and sharing fears that Trump wouldn’t accept the results of the election if he lost to then-Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

“The evil I saw in that White House was staggering,” she said in her launch video. “In 2020, I finally said ‘enough.’ And they came for me. Kash Patel, Stephen Miller, even Trump himself. They sent MAGA after me, tried to bankrupt me, threatened to kill me. They thought they could silence me.”

Troye is planning on running in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District, should Virginia voters approve a ballot measure next week to allow Democrats to gerrymander the state’s congressional lines. Rep. Eugene Vindman (D-Va.), who represents the current battleground formulation of the 7th District, plans to run in the 1st District if the map is redrawn.

The new 1st and 7th Districts would both be blue-leaning.

Virginia Democrats argue the redistricting move is necessary to keep up with Republicans’ aggressive mid-decade redistricting in Texas, Missouri and, perhaps soon, Florida.

Virginia voters will head to the polls on April 21. And while a slim majority of voters told a Washington Post/Schar School poll last week that they support the redistricting initiative, a sizable enthusiasm gap between Republicans and Democrats is sending alarm bells for Democrats that supporters might not be able to get it over the line.

The Department of Homeland Security has been shut down for 59 days. GOP leaders are meeting Tuesday hoping to hash out next steps for a funding plan to quickly end it.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson will get together for their weekly meeting as Republicans stare down President Donald Trump’s June 1 deadline to pass a party-line reconciliation bill that would restore lapsed DHS dollars for immigration enforcement.

Thune said Monday he would pursue an “anorexic” measure narrowly focused on Immigration and Customs Enforcement and Border Patrol. Republicans hope that path will allow them to bypass Democrats while skipping months of agonizing infighting — as they endured before enacting last year’s tax-cuts-focused megabill.

But Thune is having a hard time getting unanimous buy-in from his own conference.

Sen. Rick Scott insisted Monday on spending cuts to offset new enforcement funding. Sen. Tommy Tuberville said he wants to include money for the military and other GOP priorities. And Sen. John Kennedy argued parts of a hot-button GOP elections bill should be in the mix.

Things will be even tougher across the Capitol, where some in the House’s right flank are insisting Republicans fund all of DHS through the filibuster-skirting reconciliation process — not just ICE and Border Patrol.

Rep. Chip Roy, a ringleader inside the band of conservatives threatening the GOP leadership’s plan, chided Thune’s “very skinny” vision for the immigration funding bill.

“Well – he isn’t the only voice in this, is he?” Roy wrote on X. “We should move other priorities with ALL of DHS… we’re running out of time to deliver and to clean up these repeated swamp messes.”

Senate Republican leaders are planning to move forward quickly nonetheless. Senate Budget Chair Lindsey Graham could release a fiscal blueprint for the reconciliation bill Thune outlined as soon as Tuesday. Graham is also expected to skip a committee vote on that blueprint, according to three people granted anonymity to describe private planning, and instead bring the budget resolution straight to the floor as soon as next week.

Senate Appropriations Chair Susan Collins said her committee has been giving “technical assistance” to Graham’s panel while lamenting the breakdown in the regular-order appropriations process.

“It obviously would have been better if we came up with a bipartisan compromise,” she told reporters Monday.

What else we’re watching: 

— Clock ticking on spy powers: House GOP leaders are forging ahead with plans to pass a “clean,” 18 month extension of government spy powers due to expire next week. House Rules will meet Tuesday to pave the way for floor consideration of a bill to reauthorize Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, but it’s unclear if Johnson has support for the next procedural vote on the floor.

— Political exit plan calculus: Leaders of both parties will be watching carefully for exact exit plans from Reps. Eric Swalwell and Tony Gonzales after the lawmakers announced resignations within an hour of each other Monday amid sexual misconduct allegations. Gonzales said he would formally resign Tuesday.

— War powers to fail—for now: Senate Republicans are unlikely to shore up the support to help Democrats adopt a resolution as soon as Wednesday that would put limits on Trump’s military operation in the Middle East. But some could change their minds in a few weeks when the conflict reaches the 60 day mark.

Jordain Carney contributed to this report.