The House of Representatives has failed to renew the U.S. government’s warrant-less surveillance law before it is due to expire on Friday, all but guaranteeing that it will lapse for the first time, as lawmakers protest the appointment of a controversial Trump ally to oversee U.S. intelligence agencies.
The House vote on Thursday failed 218-198, with 19 Republican lawmakers voting against the passing. According to Politico, the next vote is scheduled for June 23.
The spy law, officially dubbed the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), broadly allows U.S. intelligence agencies to collect vast amounts of information, including on Americans, to identify foreign hackers, spies and potential terrorists. Also known as Section 702 for its place in the law books, the regulation has been considered critical to national security by both Democrats and Republicans for years.
Bipartisan efforts to renew the decades-old spy law stalled over recent weeks, and lawmakers were only able to pass short-term extensions to continue negotiations.
Critics have been calling for overwhelming reform of FISA, citing abuses of the law by multiple past U.S. administrations. Lawmakers from both parties had sought provisions that would require spy agencies to first obtain a court-approved warrant before being allowed to access the private communications of Americans, though the Trump government had been calling for a clean re-authorization of the law.
