The House did not pass a short-term extension of a powerful surveillance tool Thursday morning as members headed out of town for a recess, all but ensuring the spy power’s statutory authority would lapse going into the weekend.
The vote to reject a reauthorization of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act now sends the surveillance power into uncharted territory, with questions over whether the lapse will handicap the ability of the U.S. government to collect information from service providers.
For years, national security hawks have issued dire warnings about what a lapse in statutory authority could mean, saying it would hamstring a critical tool used to help foil terrorist attacks and keep Americans safe.
Now, those predictions will be put to the test — at least in the short term — with no immediate path forward to reauthorize the authority on Capitol Hill.
Congressional leaders had already struggled this year to secure a long-term extension of the spy authority, amid a bitter and grueling debate over privacy protections.
