Congress spent another day stalled on the renewal of a key surveillance authority Tuesday, as President Donald Trump declined to help clear a legislative path and instead dug in on his temporary choice in Bill Pulte as acting Director of National Intelligence.
Lawmakers and the White House are sliding closer to the deadline Friday when statutory authority expires for Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which allows the U.S. government to collect digital communications of foreigners located outside the country.
The program already has generated controversy because it also sweeps up the communications of Americans and allows the FBI to search through data without a warrant, using information such as an email address.
Although Trump has said Pulte wouldn’t be in the DNI role permanently, congressional Democrats have demanded a permanent replacement be named before they move on FISA, amid concerns about his qualifications and loyalty to the president.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., visited the White House Tuesday morning to discuss FISA and said the Senate was working on a “bicameral, bipartisan solution to extend FISA.” Johnson would not discuss details about his meeting with Trump.
