Congress

Johnson pursues a ‘modified’ FISA extension

Published

2 months ago

April 16, 2026

Speaker Mike Johnson is trying to strike an agreement to make changes to an extension of a key spy authority ahead of a planned vote Thursday afternoon, as House GOP hard-liners continue to oppose a clean, 18-month reauthorization of the expiring program.

One option under consideration is shortening the length of the current, clean bill to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act to one year — down from the 18 months favored by leadership and the White House — according to four people granted anonymity to share details of private conversations.

Those people also said there’s talk of potentially adding some new language into the rule teeing up consideration of the extension measure that would crack down on FISA abuses. It’s unclear if that portion can be agreed to.

Republicans involved in the talks have been floating a short-term extension for several days — as Blue Light News first reported — if House GOP holdouts and the White House are unable to strike a deal on a longer extension ahead of the Monday deadline.

Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) said in an interview he was fairly confident his group could secure an agreement with the Trump administration “a longer extension” by the end of Thursday. His members have been discussing an extension longer than 18 months with White House officials and GOP leaders, which ultraconservatives would consent to in exchange for Section 702 reforms.

After huddling Thursday, the Freedom Caucus prepared to pitch GOP leaders on a plan for a three-year FISA extension with “significant reforms,” according to four people.

Before this, Freedom Caucus members and other Republicans were floating a 60-day extension in the event a deal fell through. But GOP leaders have been deeply resistant to that idea, preferring a longer option that will get them through the November elections at the very least.

Asked if he would support a yearlong extension, Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) said he “probably” would, but would need to see the details of any agreement. Other conservatives are firmly uninterested in that one-year timeline.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise acknowledged to reporters Thursday that leaders are now pursuing an extension that would be “modified” after insisting for weeks they would ram through a clean reauthorization.

Johnson, Scalise and GOP hold-outs discussed a raft of options on the House floor earlier Thursday, following a huddle on whether to pursue a short-term, emergency extension to buy time for continued negotiations past the April 20 deadline — as Blue Light News first reported.

A vote on a standalone amendment that would place guardrails on the use of warrantless surveillance tactics, for which ultraconservatives are agitating, would likely not survive in the Senate and tank the entire package, Republican leaders have privately warned.

Congress

Thune is ‘hopeful’ Mitch McConnell will return this week

Published

2 hours ago

June 15, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Monday he hopes his predecessor as top Republican, Mitch McConnell, returns this week from a hospitalization.

Thune said he had not yet spoken directly with the 84-year-old Kentuckian but is getting “readouts from his staff.”

Asked about McConnell’s condition or if he knew if he would be back this week, Thune told reporters, “I’m hopeful that he’ll be back this week.”

A McConnell spokesperson said Sunday that he had been admitted to the hospital but did not provide details on his condition or why he was hospitalized — a break from recent prior instances where the seven-term senator was hospitalized.

A former McConnell staffer who spoke on the condition of anonymity was told the senator was doing much better Monday without any further details on what put him in the hospital.

Daniel Desrochers contributed to this report.

Congress

Senate to confirm Jay Clayton as soon as Thursday

Published

4 hours ago

June 15, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

The Senate could vote as soon as Thursday on Jay Clayton’s nomination to serve as director of national intelligence — a lightning speed pace that will necessitate buy-in from all 100 senators.

Confirming Clayton could help shore up enough votes from Democrats to extend a government surveillance program that expired last Friday over opposition to Trump’s pick for acting director, Bill Pulte.

“He will come out of the committee Thursday, at least hopefully, and then if we get consent, we can move,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune said in an interview Monday about Clayton, who Trump only nominated for the job late last week.

Democrats “ought to be happy with Clayton,” said Thune, adding that he’s a “good” and “solid” pick.

Sen. Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the Senate Intelligence Committee, floated Sunday to CBS News that Clayton could be confirmed this week if every senator cooperates.

Senate Intelligence will hold a hearing Wednesday on Clayton’s nomination. If every member of the panel agrees, he could then get a committee vote Thursday. Confirming Clayton on the Senate floor hours later would require getting agreement from every senator to speed up the process. Opposition from a single member will punt Clayton’s confirmation to next week.

Confirming Clayton Thursday would, crucially, limit — and potentially circumvent — Pulte from becoming acting director of national intelligence, which Trump has slated to take place Friday, June 19.

The president’s decision to put Pulte in charge after Tulsi Gabbard’s departure at the helm of the Office of National Intelligence sparked bipartisan pushback, with Democrats saying they will withhold support for extending Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act while Pulte is in the acting role. Congress allowed the key government spy authority lapse last Friday without a deal.

Trump threw another curveball into a FISA extension over the weekend when he posted on social media that he was against reauthorizing Section 702 unless a GOP elections bill is attached. That bill, known as the SAVE America Act, does not have the votes to get through Congress.

Thune threw cold water Monday on tying the two issues together.

“Yeah, he’s, as you know, passionate about getting that done and wants to use every opportunity to take a shot at it,” Thune said of Trump and his desire to enact the elections bill.

But, Thune said, “we can’t get FISA done” if the policies are linked.

Congress

Senate eyes vote on updated housing affordability legislation

Published

6 hours ago

June 15, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Senate Majority Leader John Thune is planning to put an updated version of a bipartisan housing affordability bill on the Senate floor for a vote this week, according to two people familiar with the bill dynamics and two Senate Democratic aides granted anonymity to discuss ongoing plans.

The version of the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act that the Senate will vote on will include most of the House-passed language, including a provision restricting large institutional investors from buying single-family homes. The legislation would also add back Senate bills that were dropped from the House package that passed last month, the two people and the two aides said.

The Senate legislation comes after talks between Thune, Senate Banking Chair Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and ranking member Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.). The updated Senate package was also discussed with the House and the White House, the aides said.

Still, it’s unclear if House leadership and the White House have signed off on the legislation.

The Senate and House have gone back and forth for months on language for a housing affordability bill as lawmakers on both sides look for a win to tout during a midterm election season dominated by cost-of-living issues.

Both chambers overwhelmingly passed their own versions of the housing bill — the Senate 89-10 in March, and the House 396-13 in May. The White House supported the Senate-passed bill and then backed the House-passed bill after it retained most of the Senate’s language on reining in private equity and other large Wall Street investors in the housing market — a top priority for President Donald Trump.

The Senate’s updated legislation would remove two of the House’s community banking deregulation bills due to budget scoring concerns, said two of the people familiar: two bills that would modify the Federal Deposit Insurance Act around failed insured depository institutions. The Senate bill also added back a provision to authorize the Community Development Block Grant Disaster Recovery program for seven years, as opposed to a permanent reauthorization in the Senate’s March legislation.

The Senate additionally re-inserted several upper-chamber priorities, including the BUILD NOW Act, which would incentivize communities to build more housing through the Community Development Block Grant program; the Rental Assistance Demonstration bill, which would raise the cap on housing authorities to convert voucher-based assistance; the Moving to Work bill, which would aim to add a new cohort of MTW public housing agencies; and the VALID Act, which would require Federal Housing Administration mortgage disclosures to include cost comparison information for veterans.

The package retains core wins for the leaders of both the Senate Banking and House Financial Services committees and their members and reflects input from all four leaders of those panels, one of the people familiar said.