The House of Representatives overwhelmingly voted to reauthorize the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) despite an earlier draft of the legislation failing a critical procedural vote on Wednesday.
House Republican leadership reintroduced the FISA bill with slight modifications to placate conservatives who were concerned about the length of the reauthorization and the scope of warrantless surveillance. The new legislation only re-ups the FISA program for two years, compared to the five years in the original bill.
Additionally, an attempt to place further requirements on the government to obtain warrants when they intercept communications between foreign targets and American citizens failed on a tie vote. Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ) offered the amendment, which was backed by many of his colleagues in the House Freedom Caucus. According to Rachel Bovard, the executive director for the Senate Steering Committee, proponents of the Biggs amendment had an additional House Member ready to break the tie, but leadership closed the vote before they could get to the floor.
However, defense and national security hawks on both sides of the aisle opposed the move. During the debate, they contended that the Biggs amendment would unduly restrict the government’s espionage capabilities on foreign nationals and that it essentially extended American constitutional rights to foreign enemies. In total, 86 Republicans voted against the Biggs amendment.
