Foreign surveillance program to expire after House blocks extension

The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday rejected a proposal to extend a key foreign surveillance program through July 2, as Democrats continued to withhold support over President Donald Trump‘s choice of Bill Pulte as acting director of national intelligence. The program will expire Friday.

Trump tapped Pulte for the role earlier this month, setting off bipartisan backlash. Pulte is currently the head of the Federal Housing Finance Agency and has used his perch to launch probes into several of Trump’s political opponents over allegations of mortgage-related wrongdoing. He has no prior national security experience.

House Democratic leaders came out against the short-term reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act ahead of Thursday’s planned vote, effectively dooming the measure. Speaker Mike Johnson was attempting to approve it under a procedural tool normally used for noncontroversial bills that requires support from two-thirds of the House.

The measure failed by a vote of 198-218. The House left town after the vote and is not due back until June 23.

“Section 702 is a critical foreign intelligence authority, but we cannot in good conscience vote for reauthorization without significant reforms to protect both national security and the constitutional privacy rights of Americans,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar, D-Calif., House Select Committee on Intelligence ranking member Jim Himes, D-Conn., and House Judiciary Committee ranking member Jamie Raskin, D-Md., said in a joint statement.

“Bill Pulte has no relevant national security experience. Consequently, his appointment is in defiance of the law that requires the Director of National Intelligence to have ‘extensive’ national security experience,” the Democratic leaders wrote. “The apparent motivation for his elevation is the demonstrated willingness of Bill Pulte to search government databases for alleged dirt on President Trump’s chosen political enemies.”

Trump on Thursday announced he will nominate Jay Clayton, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York and a former Securities and Exchange Commission chairman, as permanent director of national intelligence. But the announcement did not come until after the House had left town.

“It’s seemingly a positive step, but the president’s timing couldn’t be worse, literally waiting until now when everyone has left town and there’s no possibility of a path forward on FISA until next week,” Sen. Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., said on Thursday. “Why Clayton couldn’t have been nominated in the first place is a complete unknown.”

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