Congress
House passes three-year extension of key spy power
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.
Vice President JD Vance fielded questions on Iran — lots of them — during a closed-door lunch with Senate Republicans Thursday.
Vance’s visit to Capitol Hill came as the Senate is trying to wrap up a massive to-do list ahead of a planned five-week recess — including unfinished work on a spending stopgap, Russia sanctions and cryptocurrency regulations, as well as possible votes on a party-line spending bill and the GOP elections legislation President Donald Trump desperately wants enacted.
But senators emerging from the lunch said the dominant topic was instead the administration’s ongoing negotiations with Iran over reopening the Strait of Hormuz and ending months of hostilities that have put upward pressure on prices.
Some Republicans urged Vance to provide more transparency as polling shows that the conflict is unpopular with many Americans with the midterms just three months out.
“The vice president responded to questions, and a lot of the questions were about Iran,” Sen. John Kennedy (R-La.).
Kennedy said he suggested that Vance and other top administration officials go on TV or hold a news conference to explain what was happening and why.
Vance, according to multiple GOP senators, detailed how much damage the U.S. has done to Iran’s military since strikes began in February. Republicans said they also discussed the state of the Pentagon’s munitions stockpile during the lunch amid reports that some weapons are running low — something Trump denies — and as the administration pushes for a $1.5 trillion defense infusion.
“That was one of the things I wanted to talk about because I’m on Defense [appropriations],” said Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) when asked if there was a concern Congress wasn’t approving money fast enough. “We went through the impacts and timing and how they’re managing that. But they’re doing a good job.”
Trump announced earlier this month that a deal with Iran to reopen the strait, a vital global oil corridor, was imminent. Vance, according to the senators, said that the administration is “hoping” to get an agreement.
“But they have to trust and verify, not just trust — so verify whatever it is that they offer, and then maintain it,” said Sen. Mike Rounds (R-S.D.). “And if they back out, then we’re still right back in their face again.”
Three Democratic House lawmakers unveiled legislation Thursday to tax artificial intelligence companies and use the proceeds to fund a jobs program aimed at offsetting AI’s impact on workers, marking one of Congress’ most ambitious efforts yet to redistribute the industry’s gains.
The AI Tax and Work Protection Act, championed by Reps. Greg Casar (Texas), Valerie Foushee (N.C.) and Sara Jacobs (Calif.), would impose a levy on AI developers to fund the program, which is dubbed the Work Protection Administration.
The bill comes amid a growing push from progressive lawmakers on Capitol Hill to tax AI companies. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced a similar bill in June, the American AI Sovereign Wealth Fund Act, which would impose a one-time 50 percent tax on the stock of leading AI companies to be funneled into a sovereign wealth fund.
Leading AI companies would pay a tax on either the price of the tokens they sell or the revenue they generate selling their products, depending on which value is higher. The tax would also be increased if the unemployment rate rises.
“Right now, the federal government is doing nothing to protect workers from the threat of AI mass unemployment,” Casar said in a statement. “Our bill would protect American workers by making big AI companies pay their fair share.”
Sen. Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) announced Thursday he is leaving rehab to return home after a fall earlier this summer left him hospitalized.
In a statement, McConnell thanked the medical staff who helped him during his stay, but added that he will not be returning to Washington just yet.
“On the advice of my doctors, I’ll maintain an intensive regimen of physical therapy from home during the state work period, and I’ll continue to engage with my staff and colleagues on important Senate business,” McConnell said.
McConnell, 84, was rushed to the hospital on June 14 following a fall and what he described as a “mild case of pneumonia.” He later told constituents that while he was briefly knocked unconscious, he did not suffer any broken bones, a stroke or a heart attack.
His absence from Congress has been met with frustrations about what some have called a lack of transparency. Kentucky Democratic Gov. Andy Beshear last week demanded the senator resign if he couldn’t “directly and verbally address the people of Kentucky” with “proof of your capacity to serve.”
McConnell has suffered several health challenges in recent years, including a fall taken while leaving the Senate chamber that briefly left him using a wheelchair. He announced last year that he would not seek reelection at the end of his current term.
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