FISA Renewal Bill

The House of Representatives has delved into chaos once again. On April 10, the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act Section 702 which has been active since 1978 was voted for renewal and was rejected. Section 702 allowed the government to collect the communications of foreigners located abroad without a warrant from a court. The new bill presented by the Republicans has a multitude of reforms but advocates from both sides of the spectrum don’t believe it’s enough in terms of privacy. 

Former President, Donald Trump urged a group of Republicans and the GOP leaders to vote against the bill. He is the primary GOP candidate and holds major sway in the House. Trump in a fit of anger told Republicans to kill FISA because rather than worry about the safety of the nation, he looked towards revenge since it was ‘illegally’ used to spy on him and his campaign. They all follow his lead and Tim Burchett goes as far as to argue that we are ruining and throwing away our Constitution by letting this happen. 

Speaker Mike Johnson has been in office for less than half a year and may soon meet the same fate as his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy, who was impeached from office. Since Mike Johnson’s time in office as speaker, this is the fourth time that Republicans have taken down their own rule in the House of Representatives. The GOP led by Matt Gaetz is greatly upset and frustrated with Johnson for backing the legislation. Johnson has high expectations for the bill believing that it’s critical for our country’s security, but has failed to find a consensus that has bipartisan support. The bill will expire on April 19 and who knows which competing bill will take its place?