Measure failed in 198-218 vote after Democrats said they would block renewal of Fisa over naming of Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence
The US House of Representatives on Thursday failed to pass a short-term extension of a powerful surveillance law amid controversy surrounding Donald Trump’s decision to install an inexperienced loyalist as the country’s top intelligence official.
The measure failed in a 198-218 vote, after Democrats announced they would block the move to renew the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (Fisa) in protest of Trump’s appointment of Bill Pulte, a major Republican donor, as acting director of national intelligence.
The congressional deadlock ensures section 702 of Fisa, which was enacted in the wake of 9/11 and allows US intelligence agencies to intercept foreign communications without a court warrant, will lapse on Friday.
Republicans should have a larger philosophical problem with this surveillance law. But they are not very consistent on their so-called values.