(Patriot.Buzz) – In a significant turn of events that highlight the intraparty rift within the House, 86 Republican representatives voted against an amendment that sought to prevent the government from spying on Americans in secret.
The amendment would have added a warrant requirement to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA)’s reauthorization bill.
Proposed by Representative Andy Biggs of Arizona, the amendment ended in a deadlock with a 212-212 vote count. House Speaker Mike Johnson cast the decisive vote against it.
Prominent Republican figures like Johnson, Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, and Representative Dan Crenshaw of Texas chose to move forward with the bill without Biggs’ amendment.
Although the House eventually voted 273-147 to renew the bill’s 2-year reauthorization, Representative Anna Paulina Luna of Florida introduced a procedural challenge that delayed the final decision.
This delay means that despite having cleared the House, the bill would not be sent to the Senate until after the vote.
Representative Troy Nehls of Texas said he was deeply disappointed over the outcome. “It is no secret that the DOJ and the FBI have used and abused FISA to spy on not only the greatest president of my lifetime, Donald J. Trump, but spy on everyday Americans,” he stated.
A series of conservative Republicans sharply criticized the bill’s passage, with Representative Lauren Boebert of Colorado accusing it of allowing the “deep state to violate Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights.”
Representatives Thomas Massie and Chip Roy also disapproved of their party’s and Democrats’ actions.
Former President Donald Trump openly condemned the bill, highlighting that it was illegally used against him and his campaign.
Following Trump’s disapproval, House Republicans initially rejected a procedural motion for the bill’s final passage.
However, following negotiations ended in several concessions from the leadership. Republicans agreed to move forward with the bill, now including a revised two-year extension of Section 702 of FISA, shortened from the original five-year proposal.
The FISA has been under scrutiny, especially after it was revealed that it was used to spy on Trump’s campaign in 2016 and perpetuate the “Russiagate” narrative.
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