House Speaker Mike Johnson fumed after Republicans failed to approve a short-term extension of a key spy authority provision, known as FISA, in a blow to President Trump.
The president posted on Truth Social on Wednesday, calling the extension “very important to our Military, and keeping the American People safe,“ but the vote failed dramatically on Thursday.
The bill did not even get a simple majority, let alone the necessary two-thirds majority, failing 198 to 218. 19 Republicans joined 199 Democrats to vote against the bill. Only seven Democrats voted for it. 15 members did not vote.
Democrats in both the House and Senate have balked at the president’s naming Bill Pulte, who has zero national security or intelligence experience, as his acting Director of National Intelligence, upending talks on a bipartisan Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) extension.
Johnson fumed to reporters after the attempt to pass the extension failed in epic fashion in the House.
“I don’t know if the American people saw what happened on the floor, but it is shameful, and it is very, very dangerous,” Johnson said.
If Congress does not act, the controversial Section 702 of the law will lapse on Friday. The bill would have extended it through July 2. That provision authorizes the intelligence community to conduct warrantless surveillance of foreign targets.
“I pray that we do not have a serious calamity on our shores over the next few weeks,” Johnson said after blasting the Democrats who voted against the bill.
He did not mention the group of conservative Republicans who also voted against it while pushing for surveillance reforms.
“We have done everything we possibly can. House Republicans are trying to govern,” he complained. “We’re trying to keep the American people safe.”
Johnson echoed Trump when he accused Democrats of taking the FISA legislation as a “political hostage.”
But Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries on Thursday blasted it as a “show vote” and said Republicans knew in advance it would “go down in flames” while slamming Pulte’s lack of any relevant experience to serve as DNI. He also pointed out 19 Republicans voted against the bill, “in the absence of meaningful reforms.”
Democrats have made clear that they will refuse to back the extension of Section 702 unless the president backs off from installing loyalist Pulte in the top intelligence job, a decision that has also raised concerns among some Republicans on Capitol Hill.
A group of bipartisan members had until recently been negotiating a three-year extension of the law with some minor changes, but talks fell apart after Trump’s Pulte announcement.
However, in his post on Wednesday, Trump blasted Democrats for “playing politics” and insisted Pulte would become acting director on June 19, when he would “execute the immediate and needed downsizing of the office.”
House Democratic leadership issued a statement on Thursday expressing opposition to the passage of the FISA extension.
“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,” they said.
The statement also blasted Pulte for having “no relevant national security experience.” Pulte is a housing director and the grandson of construction tycoon William Pulte. He’s shown a willingness to go after Trump’s perceived political foes.
“Consequently, his appointment is in defiance of the law that requires the Director of National Intelligence to have ‘extensive’ national security experience,” Democrats continued in their statement. “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.”
Johnson seized on Pulte’s criticism in his pushback against Democrats.
“Their excuse is that they’re upset about a very temporary appointment that the President of the United States has already said would be very temporary in nature, while he searches for and selects a new Director of National Intelligence,” Johnson complained.
The speaker indicated that he spoke with Trump Thursday morning, and the president was close to selecting a permanent DNI.
Pressed by reporters on whether Trump should just not install Pulte in the position, Johnson pushed back that the president “has named someone who would serve for a very short period of time” and called the strong opposition to Pulte temporarily taking the role “absurd.”
Jeffries said Democrats “look forward to reopening good faith negotiations designed to protect the national security of the American people” as well as “strengthen protections related to privacy and civil liberties” once Pulte’s name is pulled.
