Congress

How Donald Trump could upend Congress’ next spy-powers fight

Published

6 months ago

December 31, 2025

Privacy advocates have tried again and again over the past decade to rein in a major U.S. spy program that targets foreigners but also sweeps up data on Americans — and each time, they have fallen short.

They believe 2026 might be different.

The surveillance program in question, known as Section 702, expires in mid-April. Its critics, who believe it too easily allows Americans’ private communications to get caught up in government dragnets meant to ensnare overseas targets, are readying a major push to rewrite the law — and they are hoping they have a crucial new ally in President Donald Trump.

The president has long had an antagonistic relationship with the intelligence community, and some of his closest allies in Congress are among Section 702’s fiercest critics. But persistent lobbying from national security officials and backing from top congressional leaders has been enough to save the program in the past, including during Trump’s first term.

Some of its congressional backers aren’t seeing the same level of engagement this time — at least not yet.

“I spent the last week shaking cages with IC leaders saying, ‘You know, this is going to be a heavy lift,’” said Rep. Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “When we reauthorized it last time, Cabinet secretaries were taking random members of Congress out to Starbucks, and I don’t see that effort. So I’m very concerned.”

The bipartisan coalition seeking a sweeping overhaul of the surveillance authority has reasons to be optimistic that Trump might ultimately back their efforts, overruling intelligence officials who have long warned that requiring a warrant to search for any Americans’ data and putting in place other safeguards critics seek would make the program unworkable.

“I think a lot of the rationale that was used against us has just basically dissipated,” said Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), who has long pushed for the warrant requirement and continues lobbying various factions for it. “So I think we’re real close to getting some agreements, but right now it’s the warm-up phase.”

Even those who want to keep the current spy authorities intact recognize the president’s potential to swing the debate at the 11th hour.

Trump is “the 800-pound gorilla in the closet,” said one Democratic congressional aide, granted anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the coming reauthorization fight.

As president in 2020, Trump helped upend three unrelated surveillance programs, all of which ultimately expired, after back-channeling with privacy hawks and breaking with his then-attorney general, Bill Barr.

During the last reauthorization debate in 2024, then-candidate Trump urged Congress to “kill” the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the larger spy law that Section 702 is nested under. Trump’s decision frustrated supporters of the program — in part because they believe he conflated the foreign-target spy program with the broader surveillance law that was not up for reauthorization.

A crucial Biggs-sponsored House amendment that would have added a warrant requirement for any communications involving Americans failed on a 212-212 tie, with Speaker Mike Johnson casting a rare and decisive vote to kill it.

Now the spy powers fight is a major headache for Johnson, who infuriated privacy hawks with his 2024 amendment vote after having advocated for more surveillance guardrails as a former member of the Judiciary Committee.

Judiciary Committee Republicans — led by Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, a close Trump ally — have started discussing how to approach the reauthorization during their weekly meetings. Jordan said in an interview he is again hoping to impose a warrant requirement for searches involving Americans as well as a ban on data brokers selling consumer information to law enforcement.

He said he has “had some discussions over this past year with some members of the administration” on this issue and plans to meet alongside House Intelligence Committee Chair Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) with White House officials on the matter early next year.

Lawmakers on both sides of the debate are carefully watching Crawford, who opposed the warrant requirement in 2024 — along with every other House Intelligence Committee Republican. But Johnson has since added five Republicans to the panel who each voted for the Biggs amendment.

A committee spokesperson said Crawford is working with House leadership, Jordan, the Senate and the administration “to determine the best way forward to extend 702 authority.”

There are still, however, a majority of Intelligence Committee Republicans who are working to extend the program without adding a warrant requirement — and they are hoping administration officials whom they view as allies, including Vice President JD Vance, CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will be able to sway Trump.

“Ultimately the president is going to have to make the decision on it, but I think the people weighing in have a record of not supporting the warrant requirement and knowing it jeopardizes national security,” Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Ill.), an Intelligence Committee member, said in an interview.

Spokespeople for the CIA, National Security Agency and the FBI declined to respond to questions about whether they are in contact with the White House, if they support a clean reauthorization of the current bill, and whether they have engaged with Congress on the issue. The Justice Department, White House and Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond to a request for comment.

Some House Republicans are privately hoping that the Senate takes the lead, believing it would be easier to get an extension without major changes across the finish line there. That, they believe, would ease its path to passage on the House side.

Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) is quietly pitching an 18-month extension of the authority, effectively punting the surveillance fight until the end of 2027, according to House and Senate Intelligence Committee Republicans. His panel and the Senate Armed Services Committee are expected to hold hearings early next year on Lt. Gen. Joshua Rudd’s nomination as commander of U.S. Cyber Command and director of the National Security Agency.

Those hearings could be the first real indication of how some key lawmakers are approaching the impending reauthorization fight. While some Democrats such as Oregon Sen. Ron Wyden have been longstanding critics of warrantless surveillance, others have generally been more sympathetic to intelligence officials.

But now, with Trump instead of Joe Biden in the White House, that could be changing. For instance, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland was among the majority of Democrats who voted against the warrant requirement amendment in 2024. But during a Judiciary subcommittee hearing this month, Raskin referred to “an assault on the FBI’s internal guardrails against abuse of Section 702 authorities” during Trump’s second term.

“There is an inherent number [of House Democrats] that will reject their ‘yes’ vote and switch just because of Donald Trump,” the Democratic congressional aide said about the warrant requirement. Privacy hawks have also already polled first-term GOP lawmakers to gauge how they might come down, according to one person granted anonymity to discuss the private effort.

Jordan predicted his pro-warrant coalition will “get more Democrat votes this time, and I’m hopeful that we can keep all the Republican votes we had last time.”

Congress

Johnson says he will send housing bill to Trump on Monday

Published

13 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Speaker Mike Johsnon said he plans to send President Donald Trump a bipartisan housing bill Monday, just days after the president abruptly canceled a signing ceremony for the legislation after Congress failed to pass his elections security act.

Speaking with Fox News’ “Sunday Morning Futures,” Johnson said the 21st Century ROAD To Housing Act is a Republican priority for lowering costs for Americans.

“I’m going to send the bill over to him on Monday, and it will become law,” the Louisiana Republican told host Maria Bartiromo. “I certainly want him to take the biggest, boldest marker that he has and do that big Trump signature proudly on that legislation because we’re delivering for the people, and that’s what he wants to do.”

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Johnson’s remarks.

The bill is the product of almost a year of back-and-forth between all four congressional corners and aims to increase affordability by boosting housing supply and home ownership. It passed both chambers of Congress with wide bipartisan support.

Trump was scheduled to sign the bill into law last week but canceled the ceremony “until such time as we pass the desperately needed SAVE AMERICA ACT, which I consider to be a National Emergency.”

Trump’s SAVE America Act would require voters to present a photo ID at the ballot box and effectively end mail-in voting. Trump has also said he would like the bill to include prohibitions on transgender athletes competing. But Republican leaders have repeatedly indicated the legislation does not have enough votes to pass.

Congressional leaders appeared taken aback by Trump’s signing cancellation, but Johnson on Sunday said he and the president have since met in the Oval Office to discuss the housing bill “in great detail.”

“We made a lot of promises to the voters, and we’re fulfilling those every single day of this Congress,” Johnson said. “This is a big part of that because this will increase the availability, the access to more housing, bring down cost, cut regulations, do the things we know are very important for that market. The president and I talked about that at length. Of course he wants to do those things.”

But if Trump does not sign the housing bill into law within the next few days, it would still become law unless he were to veto it. Congress also has the power to override a presidential veto.

Congress

Sen. Thom Tillis rails against Trump’s fixation on voting legislation

Published

14 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Thom Tillis on Sunday expressed frustration with President Donald Trump’s continued fixation on passing the SAVE America Act.

In an interview with BLN’s “Face the Nation,” the retiring North Carolina Republican lamented “the impossible task” of implementing the requirements of the legislation ahead of November’s crucial midterms.

“Why are we doing more things to undermine our confidence in elections, rather than getting the strong message out that will win for Republicans this year?” Tillis said.

Rather than promoting the bill — which would require voters to present a photo ID at the ballot box and effectively end widespread mail-in voting — Tillis said Republicans should tell voters about “the rise of the Democratic Socialists of America” while accepting the current voting laws.

“Win by the good results that Republicans have produced and stop undermining the confidence in the elections,” said Tillis. “This is a bedrock of our 250-year history of success as the democracy that changed the world. Let’s not mess with that between now and November.”

Trump has said the SAVE America Act is his “No. 1 priority” ahead of midterms, going so far as to abruptly cancel a bill signing for major bipartisan legislation on housing affordability until Congress passes his elections bill. But many Democrats are staunchly against the bill, arguing it could disenfranchise millions of voters, and Republican leaders in Congress have repeatedly indicated it does not have the votes to pass.

Tillis co-sponsored the original SAVE America Act but has objected to Trump’s version of the legislation, which would also bar transgender athletes from women’s sports.

It’s not the first time Tillis has clashed with Trump.

Earlier this year, Tillis blocked Trump’s Fed chair nominee, Kevin Warsh, until the Justice Department dropped an investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. He has also spoken out against the Justice Department’s $1.776 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” calling it a “payout for punks.” And he has emerged as a fierce critic of Bill Pulte, Trump’s interim director of national intelligence.

“Let’s try and figure out a way to completely and finally end these distractions so that we can focus on the damage Democrats could do if they take the House, if they beat incumbent Republicans in the Senate. That’s what Republicans need to be talking about between now and November,” Tillis said Sunday.

Congress

Sen. Bill Cassidy on Trump: ‘Sometimes he acts as if Congress is merely an appendage’

Published

15 hours ago

June 28, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Sen. Bill Cassidy appeared to question President Donald Trump’s view of Congress, saying in an interview that he is not sure Trump grasps that Congress “is a separate body, separate from the presidency.”

“Sometimes he acts as if Congress is merely an appendage, and, frankly, sometimes Congress acts like it’s an appendage,” the Louisiana Republican said in a pre-taped interview with CBS’ “Face the Nation” that aired Sunday.

The latest criticism in a public clash between the two leaders, Cassidy also told host Margaret Brennan that he would be focused on affordability, including the cost of health care and groceries, if he were president.

“If I were president, I would be focused on those people that they have, my people, our people, us at the kitchen table. How do you make their life better? And that’s what I think the president should be focused on,” Cassidy said.

The relationship between Cassidy and Trump has been rocky for some time. Cassidy was one of only a handful of Republican leaders who voted to convict Trump for his role in the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection.

Trump and Cassidy recently clashed in a closed-door meeting between GOP leaders, with Cassidy admitting he raised his voice to “match” the president’s.

“The president said something negative about me. I received it as attempting to bully me from asking a question that I think the American people need to know, and I’m not going to be bullied,” Cassidy said at the time.

However, after receiving a special briefing from Vice President JD Vance and special envoy Steve Witkoff, Cassidy changed his vote on a resolution designed to rein in Trump’s power to wage war against Iran.

“They said right now the negotiations are delicate, and they could collapse if they’re not nursed along in the appropriate way. I can accept that,” Cassidy said.

“That’s the reason they said for their kind of lack of being forthcoming. I can accept that, but my goal was to be briefed, to have the truth in order to make a decision for the benefit of my country, and that was satisfied.”

Still, Cassidy’s stance against Trump has cost him: After serving more than a decade in the Senate, Cassidy lost his campaign for renomination after Trump endorsed against him. Rep. Julia Letlow will be the Louisiana Republican Senate candidate this fall.