(NewsNation) — House members approved the extension of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act on Friday, but a vocal opponent of the bill’s expansion of FISA’s limits used a procedural move to block sending it to the Senate. So the House will vote again on Monday.
Opponents say past abuses of the act make them oppose expanding its scope to include surveillance on foreign drug cartels.
The FBI and other intelligence agencies say they could do more to slow the influx of fentanyl and other drugs if they can intercept cartel members’ phone calls and emails without the delay of obtaining warrants.
Section 702 is the part of the act that allows warrantless wiretaps on foreigners. But the FBI was recently sanctioned for nearly 300,000 violations in 2020 and 2021, in which the agency used FISA to spy on Americans.
Tennessee Republican Representative Tim Burchett says letting any agency spy on Americans without a search warrant is a clear violation of the 4th Amendment.
“This is just an opportunity for the so-called intelligence community to spy on Americans. We don’t need it,” Burchett told NewsNation’s “Weekend Prime.”
Florida Republican Representative Anna Paulina Luna also opposes the expansion of the FISA court’s power.
“I think that you can absolutely have … a strong intelligence committee,” she said. “You can have strong laws that would prevent harm from happening to the American people, but it doesn’t have to violate your civil liberties.”
Luna helped engineer the delay after the FISA bill overwhelmingly passed the House Friday 273-147. She filed a motion to reconsider, a move that’s usually immediately rejected. But that vote is what will happen Monday.
