Congress

White House wants a reprieve in spy-powers fight that is splitting the GOP

Published

4 months ago

February 19, 2026

Some of Donald Trump’s biggest loyalists in Congress are itching to rein in federal surveillance powers. So far his administration isn’t biting.

Instead, the White House is quietly pushing for a key spy authority to be extended as is into 2027, according to five people granted anonymity to discuss the private talks. The length of that “clean” extension is still under discussion, but the administration wants at least 18 months, according to three of the people.

Stephen Miller, the influential senior White House domestic policy adviser, is a leading advocate within the administration for extending the program that lets the government collect the data of noncitizens abroad without a warrant, according to two of the five people. One of the people said that Miller sees the spying statute under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, or FISA, as critical to a variety of homeland security missions.

The behind-the-scenes push comes as Congress barrels toward an April 20 deadline to reauthorize Section 702, which is itself a perennial source of intraparty tension for the GOP. Even as some Hill Republicans believe that Trump supports a clean extension, others cautioned there are still two months to go and things will remain in flux until the president weighs in publicly — underscoring the fraught nature of the discussion.

But if Trump embraces the view held by Miller and other administration officials, it would be a major win for the intelligence community and its allies in Congress, who have fretted for months that Trump’s stated hatred of the broader FISA law could tank hopes of getting any reauthorization of the warrantless spy provision over the finish line.

On the other hand, it’s likely to be a major problem for Speaker Mike Johnson, a former Judiciary Committee member who frustrated conservative hard-liners in 2024 when he sided with the Intelligence Committee and cast the deciding vote to reject a new policy requiring law enforcement to obtain a warrant before searching for Americans under Section 702 surveillance.

GOP leaders are involved in conversations with House Republicans about how to reauthorize the program, but there is not yet a consensus on how to move forward ahead of the April deadline.

Ultimately, there’s no easy path to pass a clean extension in the House. One of the people with knowledge of the discussions said GOP leaders are “going to have a problem” trying to unite Republicans behind a special “rule” allowing for an up-or-down floor vote on a clean extension, which are typically party-line affairs.

But Republicans also believe that with Trump in office, a number of Democrats who previously supported leaving Section 702 intact will now support putting more fetters on intelligence agencies — making the alternative route, a two-thirds-majority bipartisan vote under suspension of the rules, all but impossible.

Asked about trying to pass a clean 702 extension, House Intelligence Committee Chair Rick Crawford (R-Ark.) said in an interview that “we’re still shopping that.”

“I have a responsibility to … run the play that the coach calls, so we’ll see,” he said, acknowledging that while he’s “not a mathematician” that it’s unlikely any bill will be able to clear the two-thirds hurdle for speedy passage.

Across the Capitol, Senate Intelligence Committee Chair Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) has been pitching a clean 18-month extension, with some members of his panel interested in going even longer. But lawmakers have also grown frustrated after administration officials were evasive about their position in recent Capitol Hill meetings, with one person saying Wednesday they still had not been informed of the White House’s official posture.

Intelligence officials have argued in public that the 702 program is critical to stopping a wide range of national security threats, from narcotics trafficking and weapons proliferation to cyberattacks and terrorism. U.S. spy agencies are also authorized to use the authority to vet foreigners trying to enter the country or seeking certain benefits under federal immigration law.

Miller was one of the architects of the Trump administration’s policy of bombing suspected drug trafficking boats in the Caribbean and the Pacific under the controversial legal theory that their crews were “combatants” in an armed conflict against the U.S.

The White House did not provide a comment about its position on extending the program. The Office of the Director of National Intelligence did not respond to a request for comment.

Beyond the surveillance policy itself, any 702 extension will face other problems getting through the House: Trying to pass a bill under a rule would give an opportunity to Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) and her allies to make good on their threat to attach a partisan voting bill, the SAVE America Act. If that effort were successful, it would kill the ability for Republicans to get the Democratic votes they will inevitably need to pass the legislation in the House.

Lawmakers at the heart of the debate know they are quickly running out of time to figure out a strategy. The House is planning to be out of session for three of the coming eight weeks before Section 702 expires.

“April 20 is the deadline, so we’ve got to work fast,” Crawford said, adding that “obviously the White House has vested interest in retaining 702, authority. It’s a national security issue. So, you know, it’s very important to them.”

Crawford and Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) are in talks over a potential compromise effort that could put new guardrails on Section 702 surveillance. They’ve participated in a joint meeting at the White House and held staff dinners to try and feel out a compromise — which would be a huge relief for Johnson if it could come together.

But the two panels have historically diverged, particularly on the warrant issue. There’s already skepticism that Jordan or his panel’s members will drop their demands to require warrants in relation to Americans caught in the surveillance data just because the White House is pushing for a clean extension.

Jordan indicated to POLITICO late last year that he was hoping to get a warrant requirement written into law, along with a separate proposal banning data brokers from selling information to law enforcement without a warrant.

But he was more general in comments last week, where he noted there are ongoing conversations about possible additional changes Congress could make while also offering a more measured assessment of the overall program.

“We know 702 is important,” Jordan said. “We know it needs to get reauthorized. We’re committed to getting that done. We just want to do it in the best way possible so that you can get the bad guys, know what the bad guys are doing overseas, but also protect Americans, and I’m confident we’ll get there.”

But some hard-liners in both chambers are as insistent as ever on the need for a warrant requirement.

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) asked Attorney General Pam Bondi about it during her appearance last week before the House Judiciary Committee. And Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) said Congress “has no business” reauthorizing Section 702 without adding a warrant requirement for searches involving U.S. persons — a provision that supporters of the program believe would be unworkable.

Lee and Sen. Dick Durbin of Illinois, the top Democrat on the Senate Judiciary Committee, are planning to revive a bill that would extend Section 702 with changes, including a warrant requirement for searching the content of communications involving Americans, according to a person granted anonymity to disclose the unannounced effort.

“I think a lot of members still want to be able to have some semblance of a warrant requirement when it comes to FISA 702 uses,” Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) said. “I don’t really see that changing anytime soon.”

Congress

GOP leaders cancel Friday votes as House agenda hangs in balance

Published

41 minutes ago

June 25, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

House Republican leaders have canceled planned Friday votes as GOP hard-liners continue threatening to block legislative action over an elections bill that is stalled in the Senate, according to a notice sent to members Thursday.

Members are expected to leave town after a 1 p.m. vote Thursday, and it’s possible they might not return Monday as planned: Speaker Mike Johnson is hoping to discuss the legislative agenda with President Donald Trump at an afternoon meeting in hopes of brokering a solution that will allow the House to resume voting next week.

If not, the House could join the Senate on an extended recess, not returning till mid-July, two people granted anonymity to describe internal conversations said.

Congress

Raskin launches discharge effort to formally block ‘Anti-Weaponization Fund’

Published

2 hours ago

June 25, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Rep. Jamie Raskin, the top Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, is launching a campaign to force a floor vote on legislation that would formally block the Trump administration’s $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund.”

The so-called No Carte Blanche Act — a tongue-in-cheek nod to acting Attorney General Todd Blanche — also would also explicitly bar payouts from the Judgement Fund, a pre-existing account for settlements with the United States, to people who stormed the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.

While Blanche, who will sit for a confirmation hearing July 15 to run the Justice Department in a more permanent capacity, recently told lawmakers that the administration was abandoning the effort amid bipartisan backlash, he has refused to put that pledge in a written declaration to Congress.

“This is why Congress must act to comprehensively shut down this shameful shakedown once and for all,” Raskin, of Maryland, said in a statement. “The people’s representatives must decide whether to uphold the rule of law and protect taxpayer dollars—or stand aside as this unprecedented corruption spins out of control.”

Raskin is attempting to compel a floor vote on his bill through a discharge petition, where 218 signatures in support will require Speaker Mike Johnson to bring the measure up for a vote. It’s a maneuver members of both parties have deployed with success in recent months due to the GOP’s slim majority — and it’s possible it could work this time, too, with a small number of House Republicans on record opposing the fund.

It would likely face an uphill battle getting the necessary 60 votes in the Senate to become law, however: An earlier attempt from Democrats to block the “Anti-Weaponization Fund” from going into effect failed in a 50-49 vote.

The fund was created out of a settlement from President Donald Trump’s lawsuit against the federal government over the leak of his tax returns. While it was purportedly intended to provide financial compensation to individuals deemed victims of “lawfare,” critics worried it was designed to reward Trump’s allies.

Also as part of the settlement agreement, Trump, his family and businesses would be freed from any current audits of their taxes. Raskin’s legislation would also block that provision.

Congress

Capitol agenda: Johnson tries to clean up Trump’s Hill mess

Published

4 hours ago

June 25, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump’s obsession with the SAVE America Act has hurled Congress into indefinite gridlock.

Senators are gone until July 13 after starting their Independence Day recess a few days early.

Now House Republican lawmakers are looking toward Speaker Mike Johnson, who will Thursday head to the White House to try to convince the president to salvage the GOP’s legislative agenda.

The president’s insistence Congress pass the controversial election security legislation has ground both chambers to a halt.

The deadlock threatens to derail a host of other legislative efforts Republicans and the White House hoped to complete in the coming weeks, including a sweeping reconciliation bill filled with potentially hundreds of billions of dollars in Iran war military funding, billions of dollars in relief for farmers, fiscal 2027 funding bills and the annual defense policy bill.

“I’d like to celebrate victories, not come up with reasons why we failed,” Sen. Kevin Cramer said in an interview, joining other Republicans in venting frustration after Trump scrapped a planned signing of a major housing affordability bill Wednesday.

“We’ve demonstrated a lot of dysfunction lately,” he said.

Wednesday’s explosive lunch with Trump and GOP senators probably didn’t help.

“The president came to the Capitol to do what he thinks Senate Republican leadership can’t do: flip votes on SAVE and nuking the filibuster,” a senior Senate GOP aide told Jordain.

“He left with the same number of votes that existed when he arrived — possibly fewer.”

Now eyes are on Johnson, who has lost control of the floor as hard-liners demand the Senate pass the elections overhaul.

He’s keeping the House in session ahead of his 2 p.m. Trump meeting in hopes of salvaging plans to put several bills on the floor this week — including a pair of fiscal 2027 spending measures.

But if Johnson and Trump can’t reach a compromise, GOP leadership may cancel all votes for the remainder of the week and next week, too.

That would further imperil their plans for another party-line reconciliation bill and the $88 billion supplement funding request the White House transmitted Wednesday.

What else we’re watching:

— JOHNSON’S PITCH FOR RECON 3.0 FALLS SHORT: House GOP leaders are trying to make good on their promise to advance a long-shot, party-line package of conservative priorities by arguing it’s the only chance to pass pieces of Trump’s doomed elections bill. So far, their pitch is falling short. Members who attended a meeting with House Budget Republicans Wednesday argued the REAL ID grant program Johnson proposed was no substitute for enacting the full SAVE America Act. And fiscal hawks on the panel warned they would oppose any budget resolution unless it’s paid for on a yearly basis, and without budgeting gimmicks.

— TRUMP’S $88B ASK FOR IRAN WAR, FARM AID: The White House sent Congress Wednesday a much-awaited request for emergency funding to cover military operations in Iran, farm assistance and disaster assistance. But the proposal could complicate House Republicans’ pursuit of a third party-line spending package, which was supposed to be centered around $350 billion in defense funding that Democrats wouldn’t support. The request for tens of billions of dollars in extra war spending comes as the House Appropriations panel Wednesday advanced a $1.1 trillion base budget plan for the Pentagon. Taken together, the three efforts represent a record-breaking roughly $1.5 trillion military budget, about a 50 percent hike from this year’s level.

Jordain Carney, Mia McCarthy, Meredith Lee Hill, Connor O’Brien and Grace Yarrow contributed to this report.