Rep. Jay Obernolte (R-Calif.) is officially GOP conference policy chair.

He was elected by voice vote at the candidate policy forum on Wednesday, five members told Blue Light News as they were leaving the meeting. His only opponent, Rep. Claudia Tenney (R-N.Y.), withdrew from race on Tuesday.

Obernolte secured endorsements from senior Republicans like Republican Study Committee Chair August Pfluger (R-Texas) and the former policy chair Kevin Hern (R-Okla.). Hern left the position to launch a Senate bid.

Sen. Ron Wyden sent a letter to his Democratic colleagues urging them to reject a clean renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ahead of an expected House vote on Wednesday.

The federal surveillance authority expires Monday, and House GOP leadersdelayed a renewal vote set for Wednesday after disagreements with some Republicans over including amendments addressing privacy concerns. The White House and Republican leaders are calling for renewal without any changes, but a bipartisan group of lawmakers are demanding guardrails to address concerns AI can significantly enhance the government’s mass surveillance capabilities.

“With recent developments in AI supercharging how the government can surveil Americans, Congress must use this upcoming debate to make necessary reforms to all our surveillance laws,” Wyden (D-Ore.) said in the letter obtained exclusively by POLITICO.

The senator sent a similar letter to House Democrats on Monday.

A final vote in the House could happen around 10 p.m. Wednesday if GOP leadership can strike an agreement with holdouts on changes to the bill. That would set up a possible Senate vote on Thursday.

Amendments could include requiring a warrant for purchasing Americans’ information from data brokers, and closing a loophole that allows the government to use the foreign surveillance authority to investigate American citizens.

Wyden’s letter also called for declassifying a FISA Court opinion from last month that he described as finding major compliance problems with Section 702.

White House budget director Russ Vought told lawmakers Wednesday that the Trump administration hasn’t settled on “a ballpark” range for how much funding it will ask Congress to approve for the Iran conflict.

“We’re not ready to come to you with a request. We’re still working on it. We’re working through to figure out what’s needed in this fiscal year versus next fiscal year,” Vought said during testimony before the House Budget Committee on President Donald Trump’s fiscal 2027 budget blueprint.

Republican lawmakers are eager to receive the White House’s request for the Iran war, as GOP leaders discuss whether to fashion an emergency funding package that might attract Democratic votes or use the party-line reconciliation process to boost military spending.

It has been more than six weeks since the U.S. and Israel launched airstrikes on Iran and almost a month since Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth confirmed that the Pentagon sent the White House a request for $200 billion in emergency funding to support the military during the conflict.

The White House has said the forthcoming military funding request amid the Iran onslaught is separate from the president’s request earlier this month for a record $1.5 trillion in defense funding for the upcoming fiscal year.

Vought could get more questions on this topic Thursday when he testifies before the Senate Budget Committee.