{"id":30902,"date":"2026-04-18T02:37:26","date_gmt":"2026-04-18T02:37:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/30902\/"},"modified":"2026-04-18T02:37:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T02:37:26","slug":"senate-temporarily-extends-nations-controversial-spying-powers-after-house-fumbles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/30902\/","title":{"rendered":"Senate temporarily extends nation\u2019s controversial spying powers after House fumbles"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Senate<\/a> quietly extended the nation\u2019s spying powers Friday morning after the House failed to reauthorize the program before the fast-approaching deadline.<\/p>\n

The upper chamber\u2019s unanimous vote to extend the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) gives Congress a little more breathing room beyond the April 20 deadline but still leaves lawmakers in the same divided place they started.<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune,<\/a> R-S.D., had positioned the Senate to swiftly receive and possibly pass a FISA reauthorization, but after progress on the legislation blew up in the House, he’s eying putting the upper chamber in the driver’s seat.<\/p>\n

House Punts Trump Spy Powers Extension After Conservatives Block Deal, Forcing End-of-month Showdown<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Senate<\/p>\n

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., bulldozed over Senate Democrats’ demands that Republican strip out the DHS funding bill from a colossal funding package, moving ahead with a procedural move to tee up the legislation for a a vote later this week.<\/p>\n

(Getty Images)<\/p>\n

“We can’t go dark,” Thune said. “We just can’t afford to go dark, so we’ve got to figure it out. Hopefully, we can move a 10-day extension, and we’ll try and set things up to try and do something over here.”<\/p>\n

The original plan was derailed because of the controversial Section 702 of FISA.<\/a> On the surface, it allows the government to spy on foreign nationals abroad, but nothing stops that law from collecting data on Americans if they happen to be involved in those communications.<\/p>\n

Read On The Fox News App<\/a><\/p>\n

While FISA as a whole is a vital tool for the government, particularly as uncertainty swirls about the true end of the war in Iran, Congress still isn\u2019t on the same page as the White House.<\/p>\n

Dozens Of Dems Flip On Israel, Vote To Ban Arms Sales In Protest Of Iran War<\/a><\/p>\n

\"House<\/p>\n

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks as House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., right, listens during a news conference on Capitol Hill on Friday in which he blamed Democrats for the partial government shutdown.<\/p>\n

President Donald Trump<\/a> and the White House pushed lawmakers to pass a clean reauthorization of the program, which both Republicans and Democrats in both chambers have pushed back against.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a rare horseshoe issue in Washington, D.C., that draws opposite ends of the political spectrum \u2014 conservatives and progressives \u2014 together on privacy rights.<\/p>\n

Opponents of Section 702 want warrant requirements<\/a> for the government to parse communications involving Americans. Congressional Democrats similarly demanded warrant requirements for immigration agents to enter people\u2019s homes as part of their list of demands to reopen the Department of Homeland Security (DHS).<\/p>\n

Dhs Shutdown Enters Day 60 With All Eyes On House Republicans To End It<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Sen.<\/p>\n

U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) leaves a Senate Democratic meeting at the U.S. Capitol Building on Oct. 3, 2025 in Washington, DC. The federal government shut down early Wednesday after Congress and the White House failed to reach a funding deal.<\/p>\n

Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., has strongly pushed back against a clean reauthorization, arguing in a letter to his Democratic colleagues that leaps and bounds in AI are “supercharging how the government can surveil Americans.”<\/p>\n

And Wyden nearly derailed chances for the extension to pass in the upper chamber, but later argued it was the “right decision for today,” and that tacking on another few days would give more leverage to lawmakers wanting reforms.<\/p>\n

Wyden told Fox News Digital that “the focus here needs to be what Ben Franklin talked about.”<\/p>\n

“Anybody who gives up their liberty to have security really doesn’t deserve either,” Wyden said. “And I don’t buy the idea that liberty and security are mutually exclusive, and that’s what the proponents, who just want a straight across the board approach are calling for.”<\/p>\n

“They say, basically, ‘The sky’s gonna fall, unless you pass our bill right away,<\/a>‘” he continued.<\/p>\n

Click Here To Download The Fox News App<\/a><\/p>\n

House Speaker Mike Johnson,<\/a> R-La., tried and failed with two options for FISA. One route was a clean, 18-month extension. Another was a five-year extension with modest reforms. Conservatives joined the bulk of House Democrats to tank the latter.<\/p>\n

Lawmakers will return next week with a bevy of issues on their plates, including reopening DHS<\/a> and sprinting to craft the framework for a party-line budget reconciliation package to fund immigration enforcement for the next three years.<\/p>\n

The FISA issue will linger until the next deadline at the end of the month.<\/p>\n

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