News/Commentary

GOP hardliners thwart Trump’s desired FISA extension in last-minute ‘revolt’

April 17, 2026 | | Print Article

The House of Representatives failed to fully renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Service Act (FISA) for 18 months early Friday morning.

Because of a last-minute “revolt” by Republican hardliners, the House instead passed only a two-week FISA extension, setting Congress up for a FISA showdown at month’s end, according to Politico.

This went against President Donald Trump’s wish for a clean and easy 18-month extension:

Leading the revolt were Republicans like Rep. Chip Roy, who earlier in the week vowed that “a clean extension ain’t going to move on the floor.”

Roy and other hardliners don’t oppose Section 702’s core purpose, which is to allow the government to spy on foreign nationals abroad even when American citizens are involved in the communications.

What they want is the introduction of a requirement forcing officials to first obtain a warrant before scrutinizing a citizen’s communications.

ADVERTISEMENT

“We understand and agree with the president that we need 702 authority to go after bad guys abroad,” Roy told Fox News. “We’re fighting for greater protections, whether it’s this administration or future administrations to ensure citizens have protections.”

Rep. Lauren Boebert, another revolter, said something similar.

“The folks who are saying we want these reforms within FISA, we mean what we say, and that’s not something that we’re going to sidestep,” she maintained in a statement. “We’re always threatened … that something very bad is going to happen, people will die if we don’t reauthorize 702.”

“But many men and women, thousands have died for the Fourth Amendment, and I’m going to continue to stand up and protect that Fourth Amendment right for all American citizens,” she added.

However, supporters of the 18-month extension argued that provisions “to protect U.S. citizens” have already been added to FISA:

ADVERTISEMENT

But on the other hand, Democrats like Rep. Jamie Raskin pushed back by arguing that these provisions are toothless.

“This simply says they may seek a warrant. They don’t have to. They may seek a warrant,” he said, referring to the FBI. “In other words, this provision is meaningless. It just returns us to exactly where we were.”

The irony is the giant flip that has occurred in Congress and the White House as well. In a Truth Social post published just two years ago, then-GOP presidential candidate Trump called for Congress to “KILL FISA.”

“IT WAS ILLEGALLY USED AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHERS,” he added.

ADVERTISEMENT

Similarly, back then, Democrats were for FISA.

“Democrats who voted to extend Section 702 in 2024, and helped kill amendments that added a warrant requirement to the law, are now opposing reauthorization,” Reason magazine notes. “They say the law is much too dangerous in the hands of Donald Trump.”

One rare exception is Rep. Ro Khanna, who in 2024 voted against reauthorizing Section 702 but did vote in favor of amendments for stronger privacy protections.

He voted the same this time around:

ADVERTISEMENT

Despite all the opposition, House Speaker Mike Johnson is confident that Section 702 will eventually be fully extended.

“There’s some nuances with the language and some questions that need to be answered, and we’ll get it done,” he said on Friday. “The extension allows us the time to do that.”

Vivek Saxena
Latest posts by Vivek Saxena (see all)

Comment

We have no tolerance for comments containing violence, racism, profanity, vulgarity, doxing, or discourteous behavior. If a comment is spam, instead of replying to it please click the ∨ icon below and to the right of that comment. Thank you for partnering with us to maintain fruitful conversation.

Latest Articles