Congress
Congress thought it had a spy-powers deal. Then Trump came in.
Congress appeared to be on track to reauthorize a national spy program that’s due to expire in the coming days. Then Donald Trump stepped in.
The president’s decision to name Bill Pulte — a MAGA ally with no national security experience — acting director of national intelligence has upended bipartisan plans to pass a long-term extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which has been floating along on a stopgap patch since April amid broader political disagreements about the fate of the spy law.
Members on both sides of the aisle are concerned that U.S. citizens are getting swept up in warrantless surveillance designed to target foreigners overseas and want the program to be significantly reined in. A bipartisan coalition of lawmakers was working to pass a three-year extension.
But Democrats are withdrawing their support in protest of the Pulte appointment, with nearly every Democratic senator joining a handful of Republicans in tanking a procedural vote early Friday morning that would have allowed for passage of that three-year deal before the June 12 deadline.
It’s only the latest in a string of occasions where Trump has acted seemingly on impulse and without consideration for the political fallout and ramifications on Capitol Hill. That has complicated efforts by Senate Majority Leader John Thune and Speaker Mike Johnson’s to enact the president’s agenda with just months to go until the midterms.
“I don’t think he thinks about the impact on us and the timing,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) told reporters. “Which is unfortunate because it really has had an impact. Quite honestly, I’m worried about what we’re going to do on FISA.”
The newest FISA hiccup comes after GOP leaders saw passage of their immigration enforcement bill delayed, and almost entirely derailed, by Trump’s unrelated demands — first for more money to cover security features surrounding the White House ballroom project, then over the announcement of a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” that fueled a wave of Republican furor on Capitol Hill.
The usually even-keeled Thune has hinted publicly at frustrations over how the administration’s uncoordinated decisions are making it harder to advance GOP priorities.
“Timing is everything. And we’re trying to get some stuff done up here, things that the White House wants done that … get more complicated with the weekly announcements,” Thune said last week.
Thune said after Friday’s failed FISA vote that it was “irresponsible” for Democrats to risk letting the surveillance power lapse. But when asked what impact Trump’s Pulte announcement had on that vote outcome, he conceded that there “have been timing issues around several things they’ve done in the last few weeks.”
Trump announced Thursday that Pulte would not be the formal nominee to succeed Tulsi Gabbard as director of national intelligence — a move widely seen as an indirect acknowledgment his appointment was causing political headaches. Two people granted anonymity to speak candidly said Republicans viewed this step as Trump responding to private warnings from GOP lawmakers about Pulte and his impact on the spy power extension discussions.
But his assurances weren’t enough for Senate Democrats. All except Sen. John Fetterman of Pennsylvania voted against advancing a deal that would have paired a three-year extension with some new guardrails and transparency requirements.
Later Friday, Trump told the Wall Street Journal he wants Pulte to begin firing a slew of employees in the intelligence community — further inflaming Democrats who are already on guard against Trump administration efforts to downsize the federal bureaucracy.
Several Democrats who were at one point inclined to help Republicans pass a long-term FISA extension now say they are not interested in cooperating until Pulte is removed.
“You just couldn’t have thrown an uglier wrench into the process,” said Rep. Jim Himes, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee, in an interview.
“I’m bleeding Democrats” willing to vote for a deal, he added, “and we didn’t have that many to begin with.”
Across the Capitol, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen of New Hampshire, who was viewed as a Democrat likely to help advance a surveillance powers bill, said in a statement that Trump “is undermining extension of this critical authority” with the appointment.
“Pulte must go,” she said.
Meanwhile, the setback in the Senate is only empowering privacy hawks in both parties who believe they now have momentum to kill any FISA deal that doesn’t include sweeping changes whether Pulte gets yanked from his acting leadership post or not — further complicating matters for Thune and Johnson.
“Warrantless FISA surveillance depends on a handful of government officials to choose not to misuse the most powerful spying apparatus the world has ever seen,” Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) said in a statement Friday. “Firing Pulte won’t solve the real problem.”
Republicans are hoping that talks between the White House and congressional Democrats can help shake things loose. Thune said “the administration will have to consider and Democrats will have to think about” if any deal can get through with Pulte in his current role.
Even if the Senate can manage to pass a FISA extension this week, House GOP leaders still have several hurdles to overcome in order to pass it in time.
Members of the House Freedom Caucus have revived a social media campaign demanding intelligence agencies get a warrant before searching the foreign data for Americans, and some hard-liners are pushing for the inclusion of a permanent ban on the Federal Reserve’s ability to issue a digital currency.
“I think we ought to just hold our powder dry and see what actually comes out of the Senate,” said Rep. Keith Self (R-Texas), a proponent of incorporating both policy changes into the bill.
He added it was “probably reasonable” to predict another short-term deadline punt at this point. Another hard-liner, Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.), agreed it likely will “unfortunately” be needed.
House Democrats say they are not inclined at this point to move things along.
“We need the administration to appoint someone as DNI who’s going to take FISA seriously,” Rep. Brad Schneider of Illinois, chair of the centrist New Democrat Coalition, said Friday.
Even Himes, among the most vocal Democrats in favor of keeping FISA from expiring, wouldn’t commit to supporting an extension now without first securing Pulte’s removal.
“I was actually looking forward to gaining Democrats” to vote on an extension, Himes said. “Instead, my phone is ringing with Democrats telling me to go pound sand on FISA.”
Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley rescheduled a planned vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general late Friday in a preemptive move as negotiations between the Trump administration and GOP holdouts continue.
The vote, now set for Tuesday after a scheduled Thursday vote was postponed, isn’t an indication that a deal allowing for Blanche’s confirmation is near, so much as it is a nod to Judiciary Committee rules that require three days of notice for a panel meeting.
There is no sign that President Donald Trump is about to acquiesce to the unflinching demands of Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who wants a controversial settlement agreement between Trump and the IRS substantially pared back.
Cornyn, who lost his primary to a Trump-endorsed candidate, wants the Justice Department to nullify a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and limit the scope of a tax audit immunity component of the pact.
Trump told reporters earlier Friday the fund is “dead” but added “I wish it weren’t.”
“I’d like to see them compensated,” he added, referring to people he considers victims of government abuse, including participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
To advance Tuesday, Blanche needs to pick up Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), another senator on the panel with similar concerns. He can’t lose any GOP votes if he wants to be reported favorably out of the Judiciary Committee.
“Chairman Grassley wants Todd Blanche’s nomination to be successful,” said a Judiciary Committee spokesperson, who declined to be named. “Noticing the markup gives more time for the White House to secure the votes for the President’s nominee. Grassley would like to see Blanche confirmed before the August recess as he has an excellent record restoring law and order and keeping Americans safe.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is zeroing in on one of House Republicans’ biggest contests — a purple district in Nebraska — when he starts his recess campaign sprint.
Scalise will travel to Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District in the Omaha area for an event with Republican Brinker Harding in the coming days, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter granted anonymity to share plans not yet made public. Republicans are digging in to defend the seat, which Kamala Harris won in the 2024 presidential race and is among Democrats’ best pick up opportunities this fall as they seek to flip the House.
Harding is running against Democratic consultant Denise Powell to replace retiring GOP Rep. Don Bacon. Bacon, a moderate-leaning Republican, flipped the Omaha district red in 2016.
After Nebraska, Scalise is planning to travel across the country throughout August, including to defend GOP incumbents Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ and Zach Nunn’s key battleground seats in Iowa’s 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts and Derrick Van Orden in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District.
He’ll boost candidates working to flip blue districts like Laurie Buckhout in North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, Derek Merrin in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District and Mike LiPetri in New York’s 3rd Congressional District.
Scalise also plans to travel to Michigan, Colorado, South Carolina and Texas for campaign events over the August recess.
President Donald Trump goaded John Cornyn on social media Friday morning, accusing the Texas senator of withholding his vote on Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination in retaliation for Trump’s central role in his political demise.
Cornyn, who lost his May primary to Texas’ scandal-ridden attorney general, the Trump-endorsed Ken Paxton, has threatened to block Blanche’s nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee until the White House promises to permanently shelve its $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” in writing — something Trump appears unwilling to do.
“John Cornyn never had a problem with the so called “Fund,” which will not benefit me, but rather the great American Patriots who were hunted down like dogs and whose lives were unfairly and illegally destroyed by the Crooked Joe Biden Administration, until after I decided to Endorse and Support his Republican Primary opponent in Texas, who easily won the Nomination for the United States Senate,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Several Republicans bristled at the fund, which could have been deployed to compensate Americans who faced charges after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and which gives the president and his family audit immunity over taxes. At his July confirmation hearing, Blanche said that the fund, part of a settlement the president reached with the IRS, was defunct. But the administration has been “reluctant to change” the text of the settlement, Cornyn told reporters Thursday.
Trump signaled his continued support for the Jan 6 rioters on Friday.
“I will always feel that these victims of government abuse should be paid back for what they were forced to endure, their lives have been ruined!” he wrote. “Millions of people agree with me, as was proven in my landslide Presidential win, where this was a major subject of debate, and so did John Cornyn, until he lost his Election to an opponent that I Endorsed.”
On Thursday, the president suggested that he could punt a Senate vote on Blanche until after Cornyn — and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — leaves the chamber at the end of the year. Cornyn, however, suggested on social media that there are other Republican senators with concerns about the fund.
“After the midterms, who knows who’s going to be the next United States senator from North Carolina or Texas?” Cornyn told reporters.
-
The Josh Fourrier Show2 years agoDOOMSDAY: Trump won, now what?
-
Politics1 year agoFormer ‘Squad’ members launching ‘Bowman and Bush’ YouTube show
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoLuigi Mangione acknowledges public support in first official statement since arrest
-
Uncategorized2 years ago
Bob Good to step down as Freedom Caucus chair this week
-
Politics1 year agoFormer Kentucky AG Daniel Cameron launches Senate bid
-
The Dictatorship1 year agoPete Hegseth’s tenure at the Pentagon goes from bad to worse
-
Politics1 year agoBlue Light News’s Editorial Director Ryan Hutchins speaks at Blue Light News’s 2025 Governors Summit
-
The Dictatorship11 months agoMike Johnson sums up the GOP’s arrogant position on military occupation with two words