<\/p>\n
When the House<\/span> of Representatives voted on a long-term extension of a controversial surveillance law in April, House Democratic leaders were content to let their members vote as they wished, dealing a blow to privacy advocates seeking reforms to a provision that allows domestic spying without a warrant.<\/p>\n House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., had said he personally supported reforms, for instance, but declined to whip votes against the law<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cVoting for a clean reauthorization of Section 702 is co-signing the Trump administration\u2019s mass surveillance agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n President Donald Trump\u2019s appointment of housing czar Bill Pulte to be the nation\u2019s spy chief, however, appeared shore up Democratic leaders\u2019 spines \u2014 for now.<\/p>\n Citing Pulte\u2019s lack of experience and fealty to Trump, Jeffries on Thursday corralled his members into opposing a short-term extension of the law, leading to a 218\u2013198 defeat of the measure. Democratic leaders did not issue a formal whip notice, but they did release a forceful statement against it<\/a> hours before the vote was set to take place.<\/p>\n The different approach from leadership between the two votes was \u201cnight and day,\u201d one Democratic staffer told The Intercept.<\/p>\n Dozens of the 42 Democrats who had voted for the \u201cclean\u201d renewal last time reversed their positions, dooming an attempt by Speaker Mike Johnson. R-La., to pass the short-term extension of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act before it expires Friday.<\/p>\n The hardened line was welcomed by advocates, but in a letter penned by dozens of civil society groups they told Democrats not to flip back without changes \u2014 whether Pulte is slated to take the helm of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence or not. <\/p>\n Hours after the failed vote, Trump said he would nominate Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, to serve as national intelligence director. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard had resigned, saying her husband had been recently diagnosed with bone cancer, and is expected to depart<\/a> on June 19.<\/p>\n There are bedrock policy problems with the surveillance law that go much deeper than the personnel Trump installs atop spy agencies, the groups said in the letter. They asked Democrats to block a long-term renewal of Section 702 unless it includes major reforms.<\/p>\n \u201cVoting for a clean reauthorization of Section 702 is co-signing the Trump administration\u2019s mass surveillance agenda,\u201d the groups said in the letter. \u201cKey administration officials \u2014 including Stephen Miller, FBI Director Kash Patel, and outgoing DNI Tulsi Gabbard \u2014 have made it clear that this reauthorization fight is a White House priority, and that reform is an unacceptable impediment to the administration\u2019s agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n The letter targeted 42 Democrats \u2014 including House Intelligence Committee Ranking Member Jim Himes, D-Conn. \u2014 who voted in April<\/a> for a \u201cclean\u201d three-year renewal of Section 702 with only minor tweaks.<\/a><\/p>\n Himes was among those who, citing Trump\u2019s appointment of Pulte to replace Gabbard, changed positions and voted against the extension Thursday.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The fight over FISA has roiled Congress for months. Following the \u201cclean\u201d renewal\u2019s failure and lawmakers\u2019 inability to agree on a compromise for a longer extensions, more than 90 Democrats voted for the shorter-term postponement of Section 702\u2019s expiration.<\/p>\n Since then, advocacy groups have kept up their pressure on Democrats. Thursday\u2019s vote suggests they are making progress. Only seven Democrats voted for the short-term renewal of the law on Thursday, compared to 199 opposed. The split was reversed in the Republican caucus, with 190 votes in favor and 19 against.<\/p>\n The Democrats voting in favor of the short-term extension were Reps. Henry Cuellar of Texas; Donald Davis of North Carolina; Jared Golden of Maine; Vicente Gonzalez of Texas; Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey; Susie Lee of Nevada; and Marie Gluesenkamp Perez of Washington.<\/p>\n While the privacy advocates said reforms shouldn\u2019t hinge on any spy official\u2019s fate, they did say their preexisting concerns about the spying law were heightened by Trump\u2019s appointment of Pulte and the administration\u2019s recent release of a counterterrorism strategy<\/a> calling for a crackdown on \u201cleft-wing extremists.<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt is alarming that, under these conditions in particular, any Democratic members of Congress would vote to extend a warrantless surveillance authority for this administration to wield with no meaningful oversight,\u201d the groups said. \u201cThe case for reforming Section 702 has never been more urgent. It is critical that you protect your constituents from the Trump administration\u2019s mass surveillance agenda.\u201d<\/p>\n The groups signing the letter Thursday<\/a> \u2014 including the American Civil Liberties Union, Common Cause, and many local chapters of the organizing group Indivisible \u2014 support requiring intelligence officials to obtain judicial approval for searches of American communications.<\/p>\n Debates over the law, which was first passed in 2008, have occasionally flared thanks to events such as the disclosures of former National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden and Trump\u2019s complaints about a \u201cdeep state\u201d intelligence conspiracy against him \u2014 though GOP opposition to the spy law dwindled<\/a> with Trump taking power.<\/p>\n The privacy advocates, however, said they have never seen left-leaning organizers as fired up as the current round of debate over the spying law \u2014 organizing that helped precipitate the turnaround by some Democrats.<\/p>\n Some Democrats who were previously staunch supporters of the domestic surveillance law, such as Rep. Dan Goldman, D-N.Y.,<\/a> and now facing serious primary challenges voted against clean reauthorization in April, though Goldman missed Thursday\u2019s vote.<\/p>\n\n
Only Seven Holdouts<\/strong><\/h2>\n