{"id":21792,"date":"2026-04-24T08:47:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T08:47:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/ive-been-taking-a-ton-of-risk-inside-jim-himes-mission-to-save-a-key-spy-authority\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T08:47:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T08:47:11","slug":"ive-been-taking-a-ton-of-risk-inside-jim-himes-mission-to-save-a-key-spy-authority","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/ive-been-taking-a-ton-of-risk-inside-jim-himes-mission-to-save-a-key-spy-authority\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I’ve been taking a ton of risk\u2019: Inside Jim Himes\u2019 mission to save a key spy authority"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Jim Himes wants to reauthorize a controversial surveillance law. He knows it comes with big risks.<\/p>\n

The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee has been seeking a bipartisan deal to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act while Republicans are busy fighting among themselves over how to prevent the government spy power from expiring April 30.<\/p>\n

Fearing a lapse would be an existential crisis, he’s been empowered by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries<\/a> to share his perspective with fellow Democrats who are skeptical of reauthorizing Section 702 without guardrails to protect Americans from being targeted by the Trump administration. And despite his own preferences for modifying the spy authority, he\u2019s facing criticism from progressives in his district for being open to a clean extension.<\/p>\n

Himes has also been talking to the White House \u2014 but often finds himself out of the loop of negotiations with House Republican leaders, who are more focused on trying to squeeze a deal through their ultrathin margins than find common ground with Democrats.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere’s been a shit ton of outreach to me\u201d on this issue, Himes, of Connecticut, said in a lengthy interview in his Capitol Hill office Thursday. \u201cNone of it has been, \u2018Come to this room to negotiate this deal today.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Himes<\/p>\n

The stakes are high for Himes as he navigates the difficult politics around a surveillance law viewed with deep suspicion by many progressives and conservatives. And in attempting to broker cross-party consensus around the spy law, he has embarked on a potentially thankless mission.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s challenging Republicans\u2019 appetite for bipartisan dealmaking in the Trump era \u2014 and so far, he\u2019s being largely ignored by the GOP leaders. He\u2019s also testing whether Democrats would attach their names to any legislation that gives even the appearance of emboldening an administration they view as corrupt \u2014 and it\u2019s getting more difficult by the day.<\/p>\n

\u201cI’ve been taking a ton of risk, I’ve been doing a ton of explanations,\u201d Himes said later Thursday.<\/p>\n

If he succeeds in stitching together some fractured coalition to extend Section 702 with meaningful guardrails, he will have pulled off a feat of political compromise rarely seen these days. But if he is unable to help land a deal and must instead back a clean extension in the interest of protecting national security, he will undoubtedly take fresh heat from progressives, perhaps in the form of a credible primary challenger.<\/p>\n

One long-shot candidate looking to unseat Himes in the Democratic primary based on the incumbent\u2019s FISA stance \u2014 Joseph Perez-Caputo, a local activist \u2014 has been leading constituent protests against the lawmaker back home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve kind of watched in abject horror,\u201d Perez-Caputo said in an interview of Himes\u2019 scramble to land a Section 702 agreement.<\/p>\n

A new letter from half a dozen groups in Connecticut, shared first with Blue Light News, is calling on Himes to step down as the Intelligence Committee\u2019s ranking member, saying he has \u201cbetrayed\u201d obligations to his constituents and the Constitution \u2014 including by \u201cactively lobbying other Democrats and Republicans to support the administration\u2019s FISA agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"CIA<\/p>\n

Himes is cognizant of the dynamics, recalling that he got his \u201chead blown off\u201d by frustrated participants during a demonstration in his district last month, adding, \u201cthere’s an immense amount of misinformation out there that needs to be addressed.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Himes says, he\u2019s driven in this fight by a sense of duty. Over the course of the Thursday interview, he insisted \u2014 repeatedly \u2014 that he prefers extending the spy authority with policy changes, like seeking judicial review for searches under the program<\/a>, to continuing on with the status quo.<\/p>\n

Rather, Himes explained, his perch on the Intelligence panel uniquely positions him to understand the scope and stakes of a Section 702 expiration. And if it were to come down to a choice between passing a clean extension or letting the program expire, a lapse would be a nonstarter.<\/p>\n

\u201cThree months from now, if FISA 702 is dark and there’s a bomb in Grand Central, there will be very little doubt in my mind \u2026 that that occurred because we shut down our most important counterintelligence,\u201d Himes said.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo I don’t blame them,\u201d he added of those members who would prefer the program lapse than support a clean extension. \u201cBut I just see with some granularity \u2014 actually, more granularity than pretty much anybody around here \u2014 what the risks are that we face.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite Himes\u2019 entreaties, many House Democrats remain skeptical. Rep. Stephen Lynch of Massachusetts said in an interview Thursday he will vote against a reauthorization for the first time in his 25-year tenure in the House if the legislation does not institute new guardrails on warrantless government surveillance.<\/p>\n

\"Personal<\/p>\n

Congressional Progressive Caucus Chair Rep. Greg Casar<\/a> (D-Texas) said he respects Himes and appreciates that he has attended caucus meetings to share his perspective on the issue. But, he said in an interview, the decision was an easy one: \u201cWe should unify now to say, \u2018No, Trump does not use power responsibly.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Himes said his senior role on the House Intelligence Committee means he’s inclined to never trust any administration \u2014 and he “particularly” doesn’t trust this one. But he emphasized he has not, in his role on the panel, ever been presented with any evidence that President Donald Trump or senior White House officials have sought to interfere with Americans\u2019 privacy.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the last 14 months,\u201d he said, \u201cthere has not been a single example of their attempt to abuse this database. I am conscious of something that is hard to get people to understand, which is, there is no program that is more overseen than this one. None.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rep. Gregory Meeks<\/a> of New York, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee who is also privy to classified information not shared with the majority of his colleagues, had a similar point of view.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don’t want it to be on my conscience that something happens that we could have stopped,\u201d Meeks said in an interview. \u201cThat’s the responsibility that Jim has and the burden at times of being the ranking member, and the former chair, of Intel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some Republicans downplayed Himes\u2019 role in the FISA talks as GOP leaders go down a partisan path. House Intelligence Chair Rick Crawford<\/a> questioned how much Himes is backchanneling with Republicans, while noting he considers the ranking member a friend.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe try to be considerate of him and his concerns, and I think he extends me that courtesy as well,\u201d the Arkansas Republican said in an interview Thursday. \u201cSo we have a good working relationship. And I think that’s helpful.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Himes<\/p>\n

As the April 30 deadline to extend the FISA spy authority draws nearer, Himes is continuing to make the rounds with colleagues of both parties but also think strategically about what could pass the House, and how.<\/p>\n

He and the senior House Judiciary Democrat, Rep. Jamie Raskin<\/a> of Maryland, have been workshopping possible backup plans with policy changes that could attract more Democratic support in case Republicans fail to pass their partisan bill.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s now also interested in finding a set of reforms that could get the support of a two-thirds majority of the House so that the legislation could advance under an expedited floor procedure known as a suspension, which doesn\u2019t first require clearing a party-line \u201crule\u201d vote.<\/p>\n

Himes said there was a \u201creal opportunity\u201d to pass a bill under suspension last week, when Speaker Mike Johnson instead attempted, unsuccessfully, to pass an 18-month extension bill through the regular order process in the middle of the night. But Johnson\u2019s failure, Himes continued, only emboldened Democrats to stand back and watch the GOP flounder.<\/p>\n

Calling himself an \u201cemissary\u201d during that overnight vote, Himes was frank: \u201cA bunch of members at two in the morning, watching the speaker fall flat on his face, does not help me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jim Himes wants to reauthorize a controversial surveillance law. He knows it comes with big risks. The top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee has been seeking a bipartisan deal to extend Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act while Republicans are busy fighting among themselves over how to prevent the government spy power […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":21793,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21792","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-congress"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21792","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21792"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21792\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21793"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21792"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21792"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21792"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}