Late-Night Republican Revolt Derails Trump’s FISA Surveillance Plan

GOP leadership tried and failed to force President Trump’s long-term Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) extension through the House in the dead of night on Friday, as 20 Republicans joined Democrats to derail both the five-year and 18-month renewal plans for the contentious spying program. Instead, after back to back failed votes, they agreed to a mere 10-day extension shortly after 2 a.m.“We just defeated [Speaker Mike] Johnson’s efforts to sneak through a 5-year FISA authorization tonight,” Democratic Representative Ro Khanna said. “Now, they will have to fight in daylight.” Four Democrats, including Jim Hines, broke with the party to try and help Johnson force the original FISA plans through. Not only did they fail, they drew even more attention to the surveillance bill that has been criticized by both the left and right for years. “Speaker Johnson (R-LA) and Rep. Jim Himes (‘D’-CT), in EXTREMELY poor form and bad faith, tried to sneak through a FISA reauthorization missing key privacy protections at 2am last night,” Drop Site News’s Julian Andreone wrote on X. “This was a deliberate and bipartisan attempt to subvert the democratic will of the American people, turning over mass surveillance powers to Trump, including the ability to monitor your emails, search history, online dating matches, and even buy your commercial data.” The vote now heads to the Senate, even as the program expires on Monday.