speaker mike johnson He’s staring to his right as he seeks to satisfy President Donald Trump’s demand to expand warrantless government surveillance powers long disliked by conservative hardliners.
Johnson wants to put an 18-month extension of the spying law, known as Section 702, on the House floor next week, moving it through before a two-week recess and rapidly past its expiration date set for April 20.
He doesn’t plan to attach anything to the bill to sway ultraconservatives into the plan, according to three people who requested anonymity to discuss private strategy. Instead he will rely on the strength of White House support for a “clean” expansion to fend off threats from members like the Colorado representative. lauren boebertWhich is renewing a long-standing demand that intelligence officials seek judicial warrants before reviewing messages involving Americans.
“Warrants or busts,” Boebert said, adding that a cleanup bill “will not pass.”
Separately, Florida Rep. Anna Paulina Luna The House is being sought to attach partisan election legislation, the Save America Act, to a must-pass spy bill to force Senate action.
Johnson began the hard sell on Wednesday, inviting members to hear from CIA Director John Ratcliffe and FBI Director Kash Patel ahead of an expected floor consideration next week.
He expressed confidence in an interview Tuesday that skeptical members would consider expanding Section 702 on the White House’s terms.
“They’ll get there,” Johnson said.
But their path to do so is still unclear. They would first need to unify Republicans behind a procedural measure to get the bill considered, and both Luna and Boebert say they would oppose that step, known as a rule of thumb.
“I would say ‘no’ on the rule … and ‘no’ on the bill if they don’t have Save America attached,” Luna said Tuesday. “And I’m not alone. There are other people too.”
“There is no way a clean expansion can happen,” said another House Republican, speaking on the condition of anonymity to speak candidly. “No rules for this will be passed next week.”
Another path would be for Johnson to skip the procedural vote and choose the fast-track process, but that would require a significant group of Democrats to join Republicans to advance the bill past a two-thirds majority. GOP leaders are still figuring out whether they can withstand internal opposition and, if not, how many Democrats are willing to help.
Republican hard-liners don’t feel there are enough votes across the aisle to overcome their opposition, with House Democrats divided over whether to support the cleanup expansion. Top party leaders have not yet taken a stand on the matter, and members of key committees have remained on the sidelines.
Representative. jim himes Connecticut’s top intelligence committee Democrat supports an 18-month extension, but many others in the caucus say they would require serious concessions to continue the spying program under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which targets foreign actors for warrantless surveillance but often collects communications involving Americans.
“Personally, there is no way I can support a clean FISA extension,” the representative said. ted liu of California, member of the Democratic Leadership and Judiciary Committee. “There’s no way I can give the Trump administration these sweeping surveillance powers. It’s not just the Trump administration. It’s any administration.”
A Democrat who attended Wednesday’s briefing said the biggest problem is the “character” and “lack of confidence” in Trump officials who are pushing for the extension — including Patel, who once complained about the Democratic administration’s surveillance practices.
“It’s like the boy who cried wolf,” the lawmaker said.
Several House Republicans also raised concerns directly to Patel and Ratcliffe during the briefing about the cleanup expansion, according to three other people in the room.
But House GOP leaders and White House officials believe the easier path is to convince only Republican holdouts — especially since Trump wants clean reauthorization.
“I think I can pass the rule,” Johnson said after a Wednesday briefing.
He faces a hard sell with some members, who recall how Trump urged them to “Kill FISA” in 2024 because his campaign was “spied upon” by the federal government. In addition to Boebert and Luna, more than a dozen other House Republicans object to keeping the program in place.
These include GOP Reps. Chip Roy and keith self of texas, warren davidson Andy Ogles of Ohio and Tennessee, who wants to make sure Americans aren’t caught up in government surveillance without a warrant.
“They have to allow amendments, because there’s a lot of appetite for reform,” Davidson said. He said he would oppose the bill if it remained unchanged.
“There are signs that the warrantless approach is still not working,” Self said in an interview this week.
Asked whether Trump would need to be personally involved in the lobbying campaign, Johnson responded, “I can handle that. We’ll get it done.”
House GOP leaders are privately arguing that a direct reauthorization of Section 702 is appropriate given the growing threats to Americans amid the escalating military conflict in the Middle East, according to four people who spoke anonymously to describe the whip effort.
Stephen Miller, the influential White House senior domestic policy adviser, has been a leading advocate within the administration for expanding the program without any changes, seeing it as vital to various homeland security missions.
“That’s what the President asked for, that makes the case and that’s the drama we’re going to run,” the House Intelligence Chair said. rick crawford (R-Ark.) said in an interview. House Judiciary Chairman jim jordanEven those opposing the extension to 2024 are now directly supporting the extension.
“We made a lot of good improvements last time, so this is a good start,” Jordan said in a recent interview.
Representative. andy harris The chairman of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus (R-MD) also raised concerns about the White House-backed plan and suggested there would not be enough Republican support for a final vote. It would be difficult to accept an extension through 2027, he said — preferring a shorter term just before November’s midterm elections.
Despite internal resistance, some in Johnson’s leadership circle believe that given Trump’s support, he will have to try to vote on a straight 18-month extension next week.
If it fails, Johnson & Co will have to work on a backup plan to pass the bill after members return from recess on April 14. There will be only a few days left to get the measure through the House as well as the Senate before the April 20 deadline.
